It is pretty cool, yeah! It leans a little heavy on enough Bill & Ted-style time shenanigans (This Item I Need Will Be Left By Me In The Future Even Though I Don't Have It Yet) that I felt, briefly, as confused as your average Kagami reaction shot, but I think it mostly holds together. Much like everything from 32 I didn't love, I'm trying not to sweat the details as we progress.

Still, that predetermination stuff with the Hyper Zecter helped form an ending where Tendou learned he didn't need to force events to achieve his goals, getting him to let go of the reins a bit, so I'm fairly happy with how it turned out.

And just as I'm mentioning how I'm weak against shocking returns after long absences, look what's back! Thanks for the info, and thanks for using an Ex-Aid video for context. Youhavenotbetrayedus!

I mean, the cast doesn't know about Another Tendou yet? Tendou and Kagami sure don't. They never set on eyes on him when he's out of his iron mask. Either way, it's still not a huge Hiyori moment, at least for me.

For the other thing, I don't really have anything to say about it? I think that's a valid interpretation, it's just not one I share.

I covered this a few posts back, but I sort of thought he was done? I remember seeing him in the movie and thinking Oh Right That Guy. He wasn't someone I assumed the show was aching to bring back. Boy, was I wrong.

I love how the show gilds the lily of Goro's villainy (was Kagami Outrageous also sick for these episodes? Is he also beyond time and space?!) by having him not only refuse Tendou's meal, but declare that he has no sense of taste. (joke about employing Kageyama for thirty-three episodes goes here) He is completely dismissive of Tendou's greatest skill, and invulnerable against it. So on-point for this show!

The one thing that stood out to me about this episode was one specific element no-one seems to have picked up on.

Sorry for the sparse reply, but I’m saving my literary energy for my own watch thread, which I’m about to start later today.

No place to put it on, but... Kagami actually dies in the Worm fight, his Rider form exploding in the similar way as the monsters, and not Kagami de-henshin first, and Hyper Kabuto's debut is to time travel and save him. This is something that I didn't say because spoilers, but about the Arata Kagami being written in the past before he was born, thinking about how in Kabuto, there are something that allows time travel like Hyper Zecter. The one where Tendou said the future is in his hand is actually using that phrase literally with the Hyper Zecter coming to his hand. And as Zecters can move around and funciton by themselves, Hyper Zecter from the future cross the time by itself to aid Tendou in present time. Also it seems that as Hyper Zecter is already formed in the future where it travels to present, Hyper Zecter can't be eliminated no matter what like Mishima's trying to do here, because if someone does, then the Hyper Zecter from the future will aid the present.

That's my point, the cast doesn't know about Souji Kusakabe yet, and the way to integrate it in story is via Hiyori's power (psychic phenomenon according to you, but I'm not sure yet). Souji Kusakabe's existence is crucial for the story, and at that point the cast doesn't know about him yet.

You mean the nineties anti-hero type? (the over-the-top grim and gritty anti-hero characters in superhero comics of the 1990's) Yaguruma changes, but not in a good way, as pointed out by someone like Sh Ranger here. He didn't exactly learn from his mistakes, he turned into an antisocial nihilist who thinks that he is not loved and cared about by anyone or anything but "darkness", and that he prefers to stay in the darkness of Hell. He sums up why edgelords think that way, he still craves for attention despite of his current state, by doing these things to shock others in an effort to appear cool, or edgy (he's still enraged for those laughing at him, despite him claiming not being loved, “Have you laughed at me?” still exists in ep. 33). For you saying "parody of the tortured anti-hero", this is because in general an edgelord is almost parodic, but often, not intentionally so. He also shows more of negative traits from that later, but can't say it now. I hope this kind of change won't be praised (I mean being praised as right thing, not praised as entertaining story like here) or emulated (or what I said previously about 'humility').

Renge starts to become more of what she pretend to be (being bubbly and innocent) by this treatment; beneath her innocent smile, she's fearsome and cold towards anyone until Tendou taught her on enjoying life better despite it was a part of his plan to have Renge abide with him, but Renge abiding on him isn't purely like that, to make her feel heroic, acting like what she pretended to be more genuinely, this will come in an unintended side effects later, a bit containing Yaguruma's type of change!

What Tendou proclaims, the one he used to threaten Kagami would be utterly villainous if it's actually done (Killing every single living being to protect a loved one, Hiyori. A good number of villains in fiction does bad deeds motivated by a love to certain person, like Gendo from NGE and yanderes such as Yuno from Future Diary. For this franchise, example is Kusaka and Fueki), but then he realizes his plan by targeting ZECT and other Riders, which is significantly less brutal, and that damaging ZECT this way would be potentially (anti, as it's done for neutral motivation which is protecting only Hiyori) heroic, as damaging ZECT would be benefical to others like killing monsters (what you said that he wants Renge not to be Mishima's lapdog should be an indication of this, taking anyone away from Mishima's side is good), and for what he did at least in this episode, what he's done is taking away the Zecters of other Riders and likely using Renge for this too, so he's manipulative but not causing much harm, like what some pragmatic anti-heroes did. So obtaining Hyper Zecter is inherently done in manipulative ways, for any case in Kabuto (this episode and movie, where for the latter he purposefully stirs up fights between the ZECT and Neo-ZECT Riders to lure out Caucasus and take a hold of his Hyper Zecter.

Your guess is completely right here for Kageyama's new future. Yaguruma sort of views Kageyama as younger brother, which is exemplified here, the only one among his former colleagues. In this episode, Yaguruma tries to drag Kageyama in the darkness, both isolating themselves there, and from what I catch, it seems that for some reason to me, Yaguruma wants to let Kageyama taste hell for a room of his development, the people becoming stronger in the face of adversity type of guidance.

For this one yeah, the Tsurugi's comic relief part is lighthearted one, unlike before where it's about him inflicting inappropriate behavior to others due to ego, which I can view as dark one as he got little repercussions for it. Tsurugi was always a little disconnected from normal life from the beginning, and having lived in luxury for his whole life, Tsurugi's not so great when it comes to "common sense". This is probably a part of Tsurugi's development, where he's involved in some part of human live here, where in this part, he acknowledges the value behind other's kindness (and if you want to be seen or cared, then you should take a part in that too, in contrast to what you've done before, you did help Juka and appreciate her payback, but you still act similarly when you got caught stealing; challenging others to duel and refusing to admit it), and this experience is likely the better "how to be a good emperor" lecture! In contrast to his impossible tastes of food that he forced to be luxurious and high class, Tsurugi here considers a takoyaki from streetside as delicious (afaik, a cliche of breaking away from luxurious spoiling, get a taste of a commoner's stuff and enjoying it), and likely get to know more about commoners' suffering, like the one that he victimized previously like in his debut (causing an accident by walking in mid road and callously tells that he's above law), which is him starving here.

Tsurugi's one. Yaguruma's outfit is edginess, but for those that aren't edgy, it looks intimidating, it has seen some use by thugs.

If you like high quality memes, I recommend checking out the recent "Ryukiroll" craze as well. You won't regret it! ;)

I saw! Very cool! I hope you have fun with it!

Sure, but... it doesn't matter to the story if Another Tendou exists yet? Tendou and Kagami have no idea who the man in the iron mask is. The story isn't about Who Is This Mystery Man, it's about finding Hiyori.

I honestly don't even know what we're arguing about here! I have totally lost the thread of this discussion. Sorry!

I mean, I can't speak to "often", or what other shows do, but you'd have a tough time convincing me that the creative team (including the actor!) don't know how hilarious Yaguruma is right now.

Yeah, it's definitely Yaguruma trying to "fix" Kageyama in the same way he's been "fixed", but it's probably also that innate Yaguruma need for teamwork. He wants that Perfect Harmony, even if it's in the form of Two Stereos Playing My Chemical Romance At Two Different Speeds.

Will do! Thanks!

:lol :lol :lol :lol

Re: Tendo's manipulation of Renge - while of course there are layers to his actions, I think his face while he was watching her after she smashed the plate says he was absolutely using her to further his own goals. I'm not sure this episode walked his villainy back as much as I thought it would, but I'm not about to complain about it either, haha

It seriously is a nice callback to the first episode, with Tendou essentially getting back to his roots, realizing he doesn't need to be all hasty and reckless even though Hiyori's gone, because, just like his grandmother told him, he needs only wish for it, and fate will always take his side.

...Which is advice I definitely felt the wisdom in when I was debating with myself whether or not it'd really be worth covering Kagami memes (they're not even remotely close to as pervasive as Ondul is), but then stumbled across a relevant video of the blue-colored secondary Rider named Kagami from Die's first show and suddenly I couldn't not bring it up in here. I'm glad you enjoyed the brief return to an old schtick of mine!

Oh, and, uh, speaking of which, I've been actively repressing the urge to correct the constant little mistakes I keep finding in the translations we're using, because they're just that – little mistakes that don't impact plot comprehension too much, but there was a rather formative Yaguruma line in 34 I feel like you'd want to know about. That Baby's First Nihilist speech in his scene with Kageyama goes like this in Earthly's scrub:

"Only by crawling on the ground... will you be able to see the light. But don't expect too much. Because it's not like we can be together forever."

But that last sentence is inheriting an error from TV-Nihon's version that leaves it as a bit of a non sequitur. The actual dialogue is along the lines of "It's not like we'll ever be able to see it anyway." Yaguruma basically trolls Kageyama by acting like there's hope for them, before immediately turning it around, which explains why he walks off cackling like a maniac after saying it. (And he walks towards a literal light, no less; talk about mixed messages!).

Just an innocent mistake on the subbers' part, as a result mishearing what was being said – the scene's heavy rain not exactly making the audio easier to pick out – but it seemed worth correcting with how invested you are in Yaguruma's current downward spiral.

It's a super fine line, to be sure, but I think there's a process of Tendou seeing the negative consequences of his manipulations in this episode. While I feel pretty confident he's working Renge to get the Hyper Zecter, he seems genuinely worried about how dangerous that final act is for her. Like, she believed in him enough to fall off the roof of a building! That's probably going to cause him to recalibrate what he's tricking people into. The third act in this episode is kind of literalized by Tendou using the Hyper Zecter to undo his deadly mistakes. There's never really a huge confession of guilt, because - Tendou, but there's a need to atone that says he knows he screwed up a little.

Anything that helps me separate Yaguruma's Nonsense from his Bullshit, I will gladly accept. Thank you! The end of that line was definitely a bit of a noodle-scratcher, but I just chalked it up to maybe something about Yaguruma's recent developments that hadn't yet been dramatized. Or it's just him reaching for something profound and ending on If Hallmark Cards Had A Screamo Section, which is so on-point for this show that I didn't assume there was a translation error. No flaws with Yaguruma!

Before I forget, just to follow up on that earlier discussion about the show's DX toys lacking a Clock Up sound, I'd like to note the one ~sort of~ exception,which was the Hyper Zecter's, well Hyper Clock Up sound. And Bandai sure wanted you to know it, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MozqR7ARgUo

("MAXIMUM. RIDER. POWER." is also one of my favorite Rider belt noises ever, by the way, although that's also a big list.)