I wanted this post to just be an all-caps ISHIDA INDEFINITELY, to be a quick play on INOUE FOREVER, but TokuNation would rather not let me have that gag (it became all-lower case), so I'm going to just ruin the joke by over-explaining it while still getting my all-caps ISHIDA INDEFINITELY, twice even. If I don't get to enjoy my quick joke, neither does anyone else.

This is the first episode that really gets Airi involved with the plot and I am always a fan of that. She has this really nice, calming presence while also being slightly adjacent to reality that always adds a lot to a story.

There is a point in Episode 7 where a half-dozen dudes stare lustily while she quietly reads a book and it's the most terrified I've ever been watching Kamen Rider.

Other than that, though, a really great Airi episode. There's a thing it felt like they were doing in the beginning, as they cut between Airi and Hana and Yuumi, where it was going to be about these women and how their lives intersected with Riders and imagination monsters from the end of time... but, no, just some good character beats and an inescapable sense of ennui. I'll take it!

Boy will I have a lot to say about his episode’s second half. But for now, here’s the VA information for the Crow Imagin.

Rintarō Nishi (real name Kazuaki Kurita)

Notable anime roles: Asimov Solenson in Cowboy Bebop, Tetsuzaemon Iba in Bleach, Heracles in One Piece, Jake in X-Men, Bartra Liones and the Narrator in The Seven Deadly Sins.

Notable Toku roles: Lt. Colonel Shadam/Gorma Emperor XVI in Gosei Sentai Dairanger (live role), Doukuku Chimatsuri in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

Notable dubbing roles: Lu’Kibu in 10000 BC, Mr. Kil in Die Another Day, Hale Caesar in the Expendables trilogy, William Bludworth in the Final Destination series, Moreau in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

He needs treatment for that, and it'll require Airi household's treatment as one of the ways!

She's a relative of a main character, she would of course have something that she's about. She's Ryotaro's older sister, but is actually a motherly figure to her brother, she constantly tries to help Ryotaro in an attempt to find his lucky star, which fits for the telescope thing here. Though still, what do you count as something that explains a character is about? (before Airi was a keeper at a coffee shop, and her motherly trait to Ryotaro still exists like taking care of his body. She also had many admirers, but that's on the other characters not her though) Like it seems that, you only count the primary Rider (or someone that has that trait like Keitaro) for minding other people's business such as calling other people's views out, but for other characters, it makes them not understandable instead.

With Naomi as the enthusiastic referee. DenLiner should be given a makeover, like an actual boxing ring (and jokes aside, this is also related to my view for their gag in this episode) for another entertainment but making it safe for the customers.

And with DenLiner residing on Sands of Time, Hana is also someone who has walked on these terrain (this is episode 2, dunno how often she crosses that area):
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...43986/sand.png

Gotta suck for anyone being under those shoe.

A Miura defender! :p

Hitomi Kurihara here really resembles Shimada more compared to Smart Lady. Yuumi seems to fawn over Uryotaros. And this is the part where Urataros gives Ryotaro some good luck with him in his control, that he can score many ladies. But Ryotaro wouldn't be able to handle the sudden affection from those ladies, it's like if someone gets a sudden celebrity status without any real skills to maintain it.

The Owner is the real ruler of the DenLiner. And from the boxing ring joke above, this gag actually upsettles me. With of course the thoughtless brawl in middle of the customer just enjoying food at DenLiner, it'd just be a monster attack to them, and this also reminds me of how Hajime in Blade fought an Undead thoughtlessly in a restaurant with little regard for the others, and with the scene not played as a gag, that was really intense one. The Taros pretending to be buddy-buddy in front of him is a sure quality gag though.

Yeah, the fight scene is clever, showing how a fight is determined by matchup too, Den-O Sword Form, being a ground based attacker, would be mostly helpless against flying enemy. But the missing strategy (which of course, the character's flaw) is that, well, flying is only defensive move, that you need to close in to the opponent to inflict actual attack, but that's negated by how the Imagin has long range attack from his wings.

So this is the limit of over-the-topness. It seems that comedic outbursts can't replace what's a person is about. I've seen about how not knowing what a person is about comes from a character being grounded, hence them having "no personality" or "badly acted", and that a misconception about creating character is creating quirk (only that being enough) to give them "characters", the "quirk = personality" mindset. So far in this episode, it's about how Urataros brings bad luck to Ryotaro by wooing females, that Ryotaro had to deal with the ex.

I guess I'm just looking to hear from Airi, about Airi. We know pretty well by now how she feels about Ryotaro. She's protective of him, but wishing he'd start to grow and change. She's waiting for him to discover his potential, to find some direction, to find his lucky star.

But what does she want for herself? Beyond being The Hero's Sister, what is it that she's working towards or passionate about? This was the first episode that started to dig out some space for Airi to think about her own needs and goals, which was nice.

I don't think the folks on the DenLiner are comparable to the folks in that restaurant from Blade, though. The Blade bystanders were just normal people, and that was a vicious monster battle. The DenLiner passengers... like, those two Imagin live in that train car. A train car that is hurtling through a dimension outside of and constructed from time itself. If they were going to get freaked out by two Imagin wrestling over shenanigans, they never should've been allowed to board that train in the first place!

Is it weird that these discussions about the visuals of the episodes are helping me understand what/how I'd want to shoot television if I ever get the chance to make it?

Nope! We learn by analyzing the things we like. Why does this shot work? What is it adding to the performance? How can an episode have both the funniest gag in the series, as well as the sweetest ending? Once those things are understood, we can apply them to our own art.

Thanks! I really do enjoy these threads, even if I'm not keeping up with them a whole lot. Being able to talk about show-making in a setting like this where we're all learning about this together and exploring the intricacies together is really nice not gonna lie.

That's awesome! Glad to hear it!

There it is! The classic!

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 8 - "SAD MELODY, LOVELY MEMORY”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den8a.png

Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

If you've ever been in a break-up with someone you loved, you've asked yourself that question. In the heat of that destruction, as You And The Person You Love disintegrates into you and a person you loved, you'd give anything to stop feeling that way. It's like a death. It's a version of yourself that's gone forever. Less than the need to have that person back in your life, for things to have worked out better, there's the need to be who you were when you were with them. Having to bury that person and become someone new... it's hard. It's one of the hardest things we ever have to do as people, maybe.

Eventually, the hurt goes away. Maybe in a few weeks. Maybe in a few months. Maybe it takes years, decades. Figuring out how to process that change, how to gain the perspective to understand why it all happened how it did... that's a skill not everyone learns. It's easier to focus on the pain, to make it into armor. You were wronged. That other person was to blame. You'd be better off never having met them, never caring about them. If you could forget what you had together, you'd be happier. Forgetting is the way to go.

But it isn't, obviously. Pushing out all the good along with the bad misses the point. Who you were when you were with that other person, that part of you doesn't have to be gone forever. You can be happy, caring, vulnerable. You can even be that with your ex, sometimes. Who we are as people... it's not always a straight line? We move forward and backwards, hopefully getting a little better with each repetition. We know more about how things fell apart, and we work harder to keep them stable. We use our pain to better appreciate our happiness. The pain, the joy, all of the memories... that's how we know we're working towards our goals, reaching our potential, being ready for our lucky stars to find us.

And we don't do that with last-minute superhero saves and time-travel adventures. We can't fix ourselves with the intervention of imagination monsters from the end of time. Help isn't coming in the form of a tokusatsu hero. We save ourselves from ourselves through time, real actual time. We do it with the kindness of strangers, with hard work and careful examination. There's no trick to the reunion of Tomoya and Yuumi. Ryotato goes into the past to retrieve Tomoya's necklace, but it's unnecessary. It's not up to Kamen Rider Den-O to save him or save Yuumi. They can save themselves, if they really want to. Rebuilding themselves into not just who they were, but who they were and who they had to become and so much more. The effort of that, of fixing yourself... it's the most beautiful thing in the world. It's why I started crying at the end of this episode. It's a story that probably could've been told entirely without a superhero, but I'm so glad a superhero show told this story.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den8b.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Super great episode for Airi, even without the cryptic mention of her lost/repressed memories. (That bit was nice for bringing parity to her relationship with Ryotaro, where he's clearly taking care of her as much as she's taking care of him.) In the same way normal-guy Ryotaro is reaching out to Yuumi, Airi's helping Tomoya figure out how to calm down and deal with his feelings. The relaxing tranquility of those Milk Dipper scenes... probably good for my anxiety! I get why this set is in the show, now!

-There're some interesting parallels between the Yuumi/Tomoya plot and the Ura/Momo feud, but the story only really commits to it 75% of the way. Ura and Momo are fighting constantly, until eventually Ryotaro uses them together tactically in the fight against the Crow Imagin. (A really great fight, incidentally!) It's not really a thing where Ura and Momo have an understanding or anything, which is why it's only 75% of the way to a good plotline, but it's nice to see them get a co-op win. If I really stretched, I could make a point about how Ura and Momo similarly figured out how to move forward instead of being mired in pointless antagonism and recriminations, but: it would be a stretch.

-Another hilarious episode for physical comedy. There was that gif I posted earlier, that starts with Ryotaro getting run over by another tricycle, but there's also that whole train car brawl between Ura and Momo. Naomi's enthusiasm for their violence was matched by mine, I assure you.

Know what. Yeah. That's Kamen Rider for me. Love it

Yeah, this was a pretty great arc as I remember it, and I actually wrote enough about them to cover the barest essentials of why:

Not anywhere near as profound as what you wrote, of course, and that post is from prior to me realizing just how significant Ishida's presence often is, but still. The show certainly bounced gracefully back from the prior two-parter.

This is also maybe the first of quite a few episodes to have super slick wordplay in the title that inevitably gets lost in translation, with both the words for "sad" (哀) and "lovely" (愛) being pronounced "ai", furthering the sort of... symmetry, I guess, of the two halves of it? I'm not sure I'll be able to explain that many of these in a way that's either informative or interesting, but as I mentioned earlier, I love me some Den-O episode titles, so I might try and point out details like this as you go along. I mean, apparently I do have a thing for linguistic analysis, after all. :p

Oh, there is not a thing weird about that! I've been making it a point in these threads to yell out director names at every opportunity, and a huge part of why I do that is because, totally selfishly, it helps me gain a better appreciation for that sort of thing. The whole process of seeing Die dig into smart visual choices in a Rider episode, and then assigning a name to that and gradually figuring out what kind of individual style and talent specific directors bring – it's been a learning experience for sure. I gush about Ishida specifically so much because I've come to have a deep admiration for the raw emphasis on mood he has. If I were telling any kind of story visually, I would absolutely be taking inspiration from that, consciously or otherwise.

It really did! I think the thing I was happiest with from this episode is the way it delineated Monster problems from Human problems. I usually like it better when they're all the same thing, but I appreciated this episode making it clear that Sword Form and Rod Form are useful in defeating an Imagin, but Ryotaro and Airi are useful in helping Yuumi and Tomoya. It would feel gross if the show tried to say that Kamen Rider Den-O could use a magical train to go back in time to save a relationship. Like, these two didn't get tricked by a monster! They screwed up their wedding by their own selves! It needed to be something where Airi could help Tomoya calm down enough to see where his temper gets him into trouble. It needed to be something where Ryotaro could argue for the necessity of living with your mistakes instead of wishing them away. Like... such a huge rebound of a story!

Very cool! Thanks!

This whole post could've also been me pulling out incredibly smart things he did in this episode, and no mistake. There's a lot of this episode that's about exhaling, almost, from all of last episode's screaming and shouting. Takes get a little longer, the music drops out when Tomoya slowly sips his coffee so we just focus on his face, the back-and-forth shots of Tomoya and Airi smiling at each other... this one's just as much of a feast for the eyes!

I think this is for the next set of episodes?

I am so sorry. *facepalm* Dang it...

You were excited! It happens! Don't sweat it.

The other problem is that the first arc is really formulaic and start to blend together if you forget that Den-O LOVES it’s multi parters

Also loke always the Crow Imagin has its name written on it

I don't know that it feels very formulaic to me? First story sets up the premise, second one builds out the hero's philosophy, third one introduces The Secondary Rider (essentially)... fourth one is entirely about some random couple and the limits of magical intervention? I'm straining to think of a previous Rider show that had the same type of early episodes. Like:

Kuuga: Nope.
Agito: Not really?
Ryuki: Nope.
Faiz: Nope.
Blade: Nope.
Hibiki: Mmmmaybe.
Kabuto: Ish?

Like, if there's a formula at play, it's one that Den-O is creating. I'd have an easier time pointing to later series that ape this format (Ex-Aid and Fourze for sure, with how the Recruitment process is deployed) than in seeing how Den-O is copying earlier shows. I'd love to hear what I'm overlooking, though!

The formulaic portion is more in hindsight and with future knowledge and yeah while Kabuto is the only series really like this in formatting this is the book for the 2nd phase of Rider shows starting with W and considering this is one of your final Heisei riders....

As they really want to sell you not only on the Den O belt but the modular Den Gasher and the Den liner train and additional train cars all available now at your local toys r us*

*only in Japan 14 years ago


Granted I prefer this slower pace compared to say ghost or build but the toyetic predictable nature of the first act of the show starts to become apparent

I said I had some beef with this episode and boy do I have beef.

First off, the ending with the couple getting remarried. It just feels fairly unrealistic and a blatant attempt to make the ending “fully” happy. If they’d simply repaired their relationship, I’d be fine with it, but getting remarried? Now that kills suspension of disbelief a bit too much.

Second off, the is the debut of Rod Form’s battle song, which is a remix of Sword Form’s battle song. This brings me to my second issue with this show’s music. 90% of it is remixes. And I hate remixes. Covers? Fine. Re-recordings? Go ahead. But hearing the same song over and over again with different backing music gets really repetitive (which was my issue with the main soundtrack). Heck in an album full of remixes and re-recordings for Heisei’s 20th, Kuuga got a re-recording with a faster pace and better pronunciation of the English words, Ghost’s theme got an idol show-esque cover by the Kamen Rider Girls, even Time Judged All gets a minor lyrical change (from “why did we meet?” to “why did you leave me?”). But the Den-O theme? It sounds the same as always, and that’s not a compliment.

But to be fair, as much as I rag on about Den-O’s songs, the Sentai show for that year didn’t do much better. Maybe 2007 was just a bad year for Toku music.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5b8lSBi3Ihk

I agree by the time they milked this show till 2010 with the further movies it was too much. But for the mixes they did during the actual 2007 show's run I think they are fine considering how the form changes for Den-O work. And Gekiranger I thought worked well with its kung fu shtick.

I found the formula for the first arc pretty quickly. It's predictable but I think it's a convenient way to gather the characters gradually and dedicate focus to them before moving on to the next.

In summary, 2 episodes of the new Imagin's introduction followed by 2 episodes establishing the new status quo with that Imagin on Denliner.

Thinking about it more overnight... the formula isn't even really about the Imagin. It's about Form Changes.

It's the Kuuga/Agito thing of spending the first act introducing all the cool things the hero can do, the stuff he can turn himself into. Ryuki through Kabuto basically ditched Form Changes for Secondaries and Upgrades, and all of the storytelling went into different places. We didn't get a story where the hero discovered a new power that he'd need to master just in time to defeat the episode's conveniently-vulnerable monster, we got a story where some brand-new Rider rolled into town.

Den-O, though, is bringing back Form Changes, and that whole The First Third Of The Show Is About Form Changes would be the formula for nearly every Phase 2 show, on some level. (Not really for Gaim, which went back to the Secondaries and Upgrades style of storytelling.) Like, you can see how Den-O's success in portraying Form Changes becomes a template for W, for OOO, for Fourze, for Wizard, and so on. It's storytelling that generates out from the main hero, rather than being some new external introduction. That was how Kuuga and Agito did it; Den-O's twist is that each new Form Change has a personality!

Sorry to hear you didn't like the new song!

As for Yuumi and Tomoya getting remarried... I don't know that they do? They're back as a couple, and they've got the necklaces that Tomoya made, but time'll tell if they can actually get married. They had one good afternoon, they're happy right now, Airi's rooting for them, but who knows what'll happen tomorrow? I think it's an ending that's supposed to be more hopeful than definite.

Oh man, remember that whole conversation I had with Die about beetle horns at the end of the Kabuto thread? Because I am similarly struggling to understand how you can say that Gekiranger had weak music and then put a video right under that starts with Gekiranger's god-tier theme song. :lol

(Though admittedly, the actual BGM in that show isn't any ~huge~ standout to me, I still like quite a bit about it.)

It's safe to say my tastes are pretty different, as I'm quite fond of the variations on Double-Action the show uses. The differences between the overall sound and lyrics are big enough between them to fit the wildly different characters they're representing. It never got that old for me, but obviously this sort of thing is going to be hugely subjective.

It's a darn good template! And I can't overstate how much I particularly love Den-O's take on it. "Each form is its own character" is such a perfect fit for what Kobayashi values in her writing, and it also appeals to what I want in a story and massively increases my attachment to each form. Fight scenes in Den-O can be so much livelier and varied because of it. Much like Double would do later, I find having more than one voice in the main Rider's head at any given time lends the show that much more energy. Den-O is right up there with Kuuga when I think of Rider shows that utterly nail having multiple forms, albeit with an approach that's much more specific to the kind of series it is.

Probably worth noting that all of those forms are still just played by Takaiwa, by the way? Like, I'm sure that sounds obvious, but I just want everyone to take a moment to consciously think about how much work and talent that dude put into this show in particular. I'll probably bring this up at least one more time, because I am eternally impressed by how herculean a task he had here compared to usual.

Yeah, I find that two-mind-in-one-body thing adds so much dynamism to a fight. It allows for more narration during a battle: what are the heroes trying to do, how is the monster thwarting that, what do the heroes have in their arsenal that can deliver victory, etc etc. It adds storytelling to the fights, which makes them more interesting to watch. You can tell by how much time I spend writing about the fights on Den-O!

(Also, one of my favorite superheroes as a kid was Firestorm, where Professor Stein was a voice in Ronnie Raymond's ear, which the Double/Den-O dynamic is very reminiscent of.)

Ironically, the subject of my watch thread has the same guy doing the BGM and I’ve twice now stopped in the middle of posts to gush about the music. Comparatively, I’ve spoken about the direction all of once and the writing… well, that’s a given.

Yeah, what does she want for herself wasn't touched upon yeah. But again, should something that is considered as a want for someone is something selfish unless it's someone who is a main Rider or someone made resembling that ideals like Keitaro in Faiz?

DenLiner has already existed before the formation of Momotaros and Urataros, in the first episode. DenLiner was a restaurant in a train without any live Imagin before, Ryotaro is the one causing this change (not blaming Ryotaro), as he keeps the Imagins on a leash and by that, the Imagins are tagging along with Ryotaro in DenLiner. Urataros also appeared currently, there's only 1 live Imagin in the train before. Also this sounds like claiming Hana or the train Owner did wrong to stop their fight.

Yeah, to move on, that's something that is difficult, and it's easier said than done; people who don't know much about this can usually make this thing off as easier to console others (those who are not ready to face this yet). This is probably on me, but even moving on from something painful but not related to love also can be hard. But also, remembering the good can be even more painful that it's all for naught, but it depends on the person, if that's someone who has a very hard-earned affection, whenever love or something, to remember the good part, it can be more painful as it's just something temporary that is meant as a false hope in their life.

I think the superhero part in this episode is unrelated from the love story in this part. The time travel part is mostly about saving innocents endangered by the Imagin. The couple, probably will argue whenever the civilian in the church is attacked or not (and probably they wouldn't realize that the civilian is attacked). Probably the couple problem is resolved by the ruined necklace, which is non-Rider related? (and that's a good show of heroism, it's not just about saving lives, using that as a definition is too broad)

Airi has a full charge of the restaurant. And probably her unknowingly... uh.. Airimirers attracting persona is used for a good effect in this episode where it calms down Tomoya ransacking the place. Airi being a dude magnet will be utterly effective as a male mediator.

I don't think that Ryotaro uses them together in the Imagin fight, both of them trying to possess Ryotaro simultaneously doesn't work. It was still about Momotaros failing to fight a flying enemy, but then Ryotaro in desperation finally calls out Urataros, as Rod Form has a long range to catch someone far away. It's Ryotaro's call to use Momotaros or Urataros. Ryotaro is doing something Riders with multiple forms, and in a good way to utilize their powers, do to gain upper hand on the monster.

Enthusiasm for violence is a root of people bashing at Ryotaro for being a loser and someone who prefers not to fight, or someone like Shinji in Kobayashi's previous Ryuki for choosing not to fight and kill (and NGE Shinji's derogatory meme is used here sometimes which is "get in the robot Shinji" and turned into "fight in the war Shinji"), or like from Hibiki thread, judging characters serving in a non-violence related role. Also non-violence solution will be looked down as something meaningless, like Ryotaro to Yuumi here, or Ryotaro to Tetsuo before, which also leads to only considering those heroic being someone who saves others by fighting evil (neglecting personality part, like considering someone who is fighting evildoers as hero, but not if someone powerless does heroic things).

No? Everyone wants something. I'd be interested in knowing what Airi wants for herself outside of caring for her brother.

I'm not saying that folks are going to be blase about two lunatics nearly derailing the DenLiner, I'm saying that the fact that they're Imagin is probably not too unusual for folks on a magical time train. Ura and Momo brawling is probably at the same level of concern for them as you would have if two people started wrestling on your train. It's not a nightmare, but it's also not safe. Someone should probably put a stop to it!

One of the things that I really like about this second part is that - Ryotaro stumbling into an America's Funniest Home Videos highlight reel aside - it really tones down the broadness of the characters. Part 1 went in very hard on Yuumi and Tomoyo being incredibly over-the-top and this episode calms them down to get more into their emotional cores. Not that I didn't like them in the first part or that it feels like the show is changing them - they are still obviously the same characters, but we get a chance to see them in less heightened states and it allows the episode to really deliver on those final emotional scenes.

Kazunori Miyake is a good guy to gush about sometimes! Dude composed BELIEVE YOURSELF; the rest of his career is just icing on the cake at that point. :lol

Yeah, those two characters... they're passionate, you know? But once that passion runs out, they're just so sad, and a lot of the second episode is about them running out of gas. The second they can't distract themselves with self-deception and/or light hostage-taking, they're left with having to examine their own culpability in their relationship's failure. It can make the first episode a little much to deal with (they're difficult characters to invest in, at first), but it all pays off in the finale.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 9 - "MY STRENGTH HAS MADE YOU CRY”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den9a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den9b.png

Just a fun episode, you guys. A real lark.

There's definitely some thematic stuff going on, though. It's an episode that's concerned with strength, and using it to protect the people that are important to us. That sentiment is all over this episode, from Hana's frequent dedications to shield Ryotaro from danger, to Axetaros' partnership with Honjou... it's even in the scene where Airi makes Ryotaro drink that disgusting-looking sesame seed juice! (Which: horrifying. I can see why Ryotaro's love for his sister is not enough to drink a full glass of that poison!) There's a lot in here about how physical strength is used in service of others, and how folks without access to that strength (like Ryotaro) can feel frustrated and depressed.

But, like, I don't really care about that? I'm glad there's something holding this story together, but I can't say I spent a lot of time during the episode making these connections. As I'm sitting down to write, you know, sure. I can see how these scenes are all talking about one thing. But, in the moment? I'm just having a blast watching Axetaros be adorably destructive.

It's that embarrassment he gets when he breaks something. That's what won me over. It tells you that this is a monster who revels in its strength, but longs to be gentle. He's always breaking things, but it's never intentional. Even when he's brawling with Momo, it feels playful and joyous. There's a Gentle Giant quality to Axetaros that already has me rooting for him, and it's only been one episode!

Strong episode pacing-wise, too. I just like a story where Hana and Ryotaro get to do some amateur sleuthing (very amateur), and we can see what their friendship is starting to look like. Ryotaro tries to get Hana to open up some about her past, her family, her motivation, but nothing she's saying makes any sense yet. It's all the type of cryptic toku (cryptoku?) nonsense we've seen a bunch, where a character says something ridiculous that is also factual, but we don't get the context until way down the line. Still, I'm not too put out by Hana's weirdo backstory, since she's so awesome right now. A great episode for her extremely energetic approach to monster hunting.

Overall, just a fun episode of Den-O. Not super dramatic or cacophonously wacky, just an entertaining installment of a superhero show. I would watch a hundred of these.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den9c.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Can we talk about Hana's outfit in this for a second? What is going in with it! Did she think the DenLiner was dropping them off in the 1970s? Between the scarf she's using to tie her hair back and the groovy design on her top (and the white go-go boots!), I was glad Airi called out her name when she walked into Milk Dipper or I would've had no idea who was walking in with Ryotaro. That outfit! I would love to know why the costumer went with that outfit!

-The Airimirers were as off-putting and anti-comedy as usual, but at least there was some plot use for Ozaki, so points for that. Points deducted, however, for them both being radioactive creeps to and around Hana. Like, there was a sliver of a moment where I was cool with Ozaki, and then he Airimired all over it. Just, stop being such horny creeps! For one scene!

This is probably my favorite of the recruitment arcs and a lot of it boils down to the fact that it's centered on what's probably my favorite of the Den-O Imagin (love Momotaros, but I like the new guy just a smidge more). We'll get more into his character next time, but we're already seeing here the sense that this guy has some sort of code of honor. I really like that we're getting a character who comes from the lawful side of the alignment chart to break up all the chaos that we have otherwise.

Plus it's a great monster suit design. Love the gold, love the furry shoulders, love the mask. All around, nothing but love for Kintaros.

Hana is a victim of two great tragedies. The first is what you'll find out in the next episode. The second is her fashion sense. I'm generally a fan of anything that gets her into something that's not her usual poofy skirt, though.

My voice actor profiles will make you cry.

First off, we’ve got a guy who’s done so many Toei superhero shows he’s practically a VIP.

Masaki Terasoma

Notable Anime roles: Hidan in Naruto Shippuden, Looker and Drayden in Pokémon.

Notable Toku roles: Shadow Moon in Kamen Rider Black (and all reappearances), Ryuichi Takaoka in Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain (live role), Guardian Beast Saber Tiger in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, Gold Platinum in Blue SWAT, Ryuji Tsukasa in Kamen Rider Agito (live role), Creator Devius in Ressha Sentai ToQger vs Kyoryuger, Pega-san in Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger, Kishiryu Tyramigo in Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger.

Notable dubbing roles: Richard Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man series, Victor von Doom in the Fantastci Four duology, Abin Sur in Green Lantern, Beupre in Home Alone 3, King Stefan in Maleficent, Colonel Hardy in Man of Steel, Bail Organa in the Star Wars series, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George Lucas in Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace.

And now, for our bad guy of the week.

Tsuyoshi Koyama

Notable Anime roles: Bang Shishigami in the BlazBlue series, PoH in Sword Art Online.

Notable Toku roles: Kamen Rider Odin and the various Visors in Kamen Rider Ryuki, Lion Orphenoch in Kamen Rider 555: Paradise Lost, Burgermon Bugster in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

Notable dubbing roles: Eubulon/Advent Master in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

Yeah, and it really works narratively for Axetaros to show up in an episode that's partially addressing how much Hana hates the Imagin, which is a lot. And, like, the show has been supporting that viewpoint as valid! The two "heroic" Imagin are a hot-tempered monster who can't stop almost getting Ryotaro killed, and consummate liar who gets offended when you suggest he has non-ulterior motives. They have been living down to her expectations! So having a new Imagin who protects his host, who has self-imposed boundaries on his actions... perfect time for that dude to show up!

What?! No. No! I am a big fan of Hana's Base Suit, and this Form Change is a huge step down.

So sad they couldn't get the suit actor for Gai to be the Rhino Imagin...

Thanks for the info!

My main point was more about how those Imagins are the newcomers for the DenLiner, even though they live there, which you didn't quote here, the DenLiner already existed (with dining tables, etc.) before ep. 1, while Momotaros lived there since ep. 2, and Urataros appeared in ep. 5. It'd be the customers, especially regulars before ep. 1, having to deal with newly living Imagins.

Yeah, Ryotaro doesn't have strength, and that'd limit his contribution, making him someone who'd prefer to run from fights if there's nothing good to gain from it (though he sometimes let himself get beat up). Ryotaro helps other whenever possible though, and he did it in something not involving strength, like bringing Tetsuo to his mother, and reminding Yuumi about the good memories. But yeah, what can make you achieve far more, is special abilities such as brains (for super scientists in toku) or brawn, regardless of someone's moral. Ryotaro (he's the Den-O, but so far the Imagins take the fighting part) follows suit of the previous "taro" in the franchise like Keitaro in Faiz (where even if he's the most righteous, only Riders can carry his wish, like Takumi carrying that), or to a lesser extent, Kotaro in Blade. Of course, ideal hero is someone who would do little acts of kindness, even in little things that non-super characters can easily do, but to take on something greater for society, power or intelligence is the needed tool, regardless of the character's morals, but of course characters with power and upright moral would also do the little acts of kindness.

Yeah, between the main Imagins, Kintaros is the most noble between all of them. Kintaros is the only main Imagin that doesn't start off as villain protagonist. Kintaros is vaguely modeled after a bear and has a Sumo wrestler-like personality, which is how him seeking opponents stronger than him comes from, with also him popping his neck as a habit. Unfortunately, he is sometimes unable to control his own strength resulting in accidentally destroying things, which he attempts to fix afterwards only to make things worse.

Ryotaro is a total newcomer for the fantasy, obviously he'd not understand it quickly, he's someone who didn't know at all how to henshin at the first episode. Also, talking about her past/family/motivation, and not making any sense yet... well... beware, Kobayashi's show, not tell traits.

The plot use tho :p Otherwise, yeah, Ozaki and Miura is still being horndogs and off-putting, when comic relief goes too far, but just asking, as for before, you said that people like Tetsuo also deserved a little grace, but, are you not living up to that word if the character is not entertaining or for certain flaws if those are irritating (even if the flaw is better than certain worse character's flaw)?