KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 39

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto39a.png

What an exceptional episode.

It's chockablock with callbacks and minutiae, full of so many clarifications and examinations. There's so much old business in this one that's dragged out into the light (much to Yaguruma's dismay) that it felt like I was watching Kamen Rider KabutOH RIGHT. We get a long, hard look at the life Worm Widow destroyed before the show even started; the bi-monthly return of Daisuke and Gon; further developments in Tsurugi's pursuit of Misaki, along with Misaki and Kagami's opposition to that pursuit; and a touching sequence where Tendou spends time inside Hiyori's heart.

It's so fun to see a production team that wants to spend some time before the endgame dotting i's and crossing t's. Not in some bullshit No Loopholes way, something to validate the opinions of wiki editors, but to illuminate unforeseen consequences, and to add resonance to stories. It's all about reminding you of what you've forgotten, and this episode does it in some beautiful, sad ways.

I mean, I don't think I ever once thought about where Worm Widow came from, what her deal was. The idea that the person whose life she stole had value, had dreams... it never crossed my mind. But Reina's story is heartbreaking, truncated and abandoned by a monster she can't even remember she is. She had dreams, had goals. They weren't a lot. A tiny apartment, a love of singing. The shot of Worm Widow standing in that room, Reina's life, and trying to make sense of how it got cast aside... it's so minor, so specific. It's a monster that thinks it's a person, trying to understand how they've lost so much. It's her confusion, you know? This sad, scared look she has. The... it's like she can feel how her life was invaded, sense that her home isn't hers anymore. She wants to take up her life again, to hide away the trauma, but it's just one more layer of deception.

It's a nice counterpoint to Tsurugi's story, the question of how much we should empathize with a Worm who thinks it's human. She's not Reina, after all. She killed Reina, stole her life. Everything about what she's doing is sad because of how much she's had taken from her, but the person we're meant to pity is the exact one who took it all away. Does her inability to remember her crime make her innocent? Does it absolve her of her sins if she thinks they were committed by someone else? Does the excuse of Well She Won't Do It Again mean anything, when they're already a killer?

And the thing is, I don't know how I'd answer any of those questions? Reina's a character like Tsurugi, where there's so much there that you want to celebrate, or protect, that it's incredibly easy to forget that you are mostly responding to echoes of a murder victim. You want Reina to live her dream of performing in the opera, even as you struggle to keep in mind that Reina's already gone. So much of what's happening in this episode, with Reina's story, it's pure emotion. You feel everything that's happening to her so viscerally. The shame of her failures. The frustration of her missing time. The delight of her friendship with Daisuke.

Which, hey, Daisuke! And Gon! A super sweet episode for both of them, and one that trades their normal About Them dominance for something that fits in with the episode's theme. It's not an episode about Daisuke or Gon, despite them being one of its major draws.

This is an episode about whether Worms are worthy of love, after all, so what better Rider to fall for Reina but Daisuke, much to Gon's chagrin. (You could read it as jealousy, but I think it's Gon's innate ability to protect Daisuke from himself. She just knows Reina is trouble.) It's an episode that uses Daisuke as an audience surrogate, falling for Reina in real time. We need to see her through his eyes. Not just beautiful, but the most beautiful. A... a... (miracle) Yes, yes! That, that! Reina needs to be worth protecting, and Daisuke is willing to be the face of that protection.

It's not... I mean, it's a fun episode with Daisuke and Gon, it always is, but they're in a much lower gear this time. Subtler, I guess. There's still some super funny gags (Daisuke cradling the unconscious Reina until nighttime and Gon wondering why they haven't called an ambulance yet is some outstanding comedy), but it's letting them support Reina's arc, which I appreciated. They don't pull focus, which is a credit to how firmly this episode sticks to the question of Worms deserving love.

So much so that, for a change, Tsurugi's weirdo subplot is thematically relevant! I KNOW! It's a funny one, even if I'm way less enamored of Tsurugi Is Enamored With Misaki than, well, Tsurugi is enamored with Misaki. It's always going to be slightly (to very) gross, that subplot where some dude won't stop pestering/legit harassing a woman. Even at its most harmless, it's still a guy who won't stop at No, and that's never going to be a story I'm looking to cheer for, or even anticipate.

But I'm sort of okay with it here? Some of what helps me tolerate it is how broad it is, with Misaki pretending she's dating Kagami, as Kagami's eyes bug out in a double-take. Or the comedically overwrought devastation Tsurugi faces when he's shot down and betrayed by best friend, him spinning himself in a circle at the front of his food cart. But, honestly, it's mostly just that this dismaying story actually belongs in this episode, since a big part of Kagami's objection to Tsurugi dating Misaki is that Tsurugi's a Worm.

Tsurugi is an adorable collection of idiotic quirks and bottomless self-confidence (he is now the man who stands at the top of repetitive stress injuries), but he's also the monster who killed Tsurugi and his sister. Kagami may be his best friend (he absolutely is his best friend), but he's also concerned that Tsurugi's one bad break away from killing the people closest to him. Is it safe to let Tsurugi have happiness, have love? Is Kagami safeguarding his friend's world, or denying his friend a shot at happiness? Once again, I don't know! This episode has some real quandaries in it!

Luckily, there's one super straightforward part, and that's the reveal that Hiyori had a home.

It's, again, something I'd never considered, and I love that the show wanted to delve into it. Hiyori's been missing for weeks (months?) and Sally from La Salle's like Tendou You Gotta Feed Her Son, by which she means Hiyori's bird. Because Hiyori has a bird! And a room! With her things in it!

Everything about that scene is great. Tendou's conflict of feeling like he's violating Hiyori's privacy, peering into her heart, while feeling more connected to her than ever. Just... she's got a bird! In a cage! Because of course Hiyori's pet is a bird in a cage! Hiyori is someone who feels trapped by herself, by all the ways she wishes she could be free! Of course she bought an animal defined by freedom and then caged it so it can't get away!

And then there's the callback of Hiyori opening a restaurant after Tendou's insistence, and she's creating recipes with little food drawings at the top, and he starts making those recipes to feel like they're talking to each other again, because they talk about their feelings through food, I love it so much. It's a scene, him making her recipes, that's such a celebration of their connection. It's the most I've missed Hiyori since she disappeared, and it comes in the same episode where Tendou finds himself back in Heightened Contrast Dimension, face-to-face with Hiyori again.

As well as with Dark Kabuto.

A QUESTION

The Dark Kabuto suit makes its debut in this episode! Thoughts?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto39b.png

There's something that bugged me about these episodes the first time I saw them and I just finally figured out what it was. The issue is that something looks really off about Hiyori, to the point where it almost looks like she's played by a different actress. I only just realized what's up with that, though: she doesn't have her bangs anymore. Losing them really changes here appearance to the point where she doesn't even look like herself at first glance anymore. Whew, mystery solved.

Also, Dark Kabtuo is there and looking snazzy. It's a very basic recolor of the Kabuto suit, but I am all in on the yellow eyes and red detailing over the black chest. Kamen Rider doesn't do just straight repaints of suits that often, but this is a really good one.

Now as for the main plot, I agree that it's really good, especially coming out of the narrative pit stop that was the school arc. Reina's been around long enough to make this whole concept really work. I hadn't even realized the parallels to Tsurugi's story but it's an excellent point. The episode does a great job of giving us a view of what the real Reina was like and the presence of Daisuke and a super unenthusiastic Gon help flesh out her original personality, too. Just an all around well done story that is clearly and loudly barreling towards tragedy.

Finally, as a minor note, I liked this episode's regular weekly appearance of Juka eating breakfast. The crush misunderstanding was brief, but it was a rare appearance of Tendou getting completely flustered and that was a lot of fun.

Yeah, you basically put my thoughts on the episode better than I could. And I can only say, I think next time makes it even better (because I’ll be working on my own thread tomorrow and it’s something of a milestone).

Thoughts on Dark Kabuto? I was wondering what it was based on in a show where every Rider is based on a previous one (even Sasword is basically just Ouja as a different type of poisonous animal). But then someone pointed out that he was an evil counterpart to our hero who first appeared during an eclipse, or rather a SHADOW covering the MOON.

I still love it to this day. Most of these "dark rider" suits are repaints yet do their job well. What I love about the Dark Kabuto suit is the paint job and the red circuitry. The way those red circuitry patterns add some flare to the armor is pleasing, and also gives a very menacing look to him.

I wonder if this was always the endgame for Reina, her having a story with Daisuke? One of Daisuke's first stories was one where he got furious at Tendou for detonating a Worm who was a beautiful woman, right? I think? So the idea of Daisuke immediately falling for this Worm who may actually deserve mercy is... it might be the whole point of Worm Widow on this show?

It seriously feels like this plot lucked out from Daisuke's limited availability, giving us months to see this woman as a remorseless killer, making the reality of what Reina was even more poignant.

It's this slightly regressive patriarchal cliche (THIS YOUNG WOMAN IS SOON GOING TO LOVE SOMEONE MORE THAN HER FATHER AND IT IS EARTH-SHATTERING), but I think it works well here for two reasons. First, yeah, it's always funny to see Tendou lose his shit. Second, the idea of Tendou not being the center of someone's world is canonically something that wrecks him.

Oh! Neat!

Yeah, there's an unfinished feel to it that looks great? Not dark, but broken? It really sells the idea of Another Tendou being this exposed, raw nerve of a man.

It was nice to learn more about Hiyori from her home, to fill in the void left by her absence. It makes a lot of sense that she has a pet bird, since it helps her feel a little less lonely and that bird is probably one of the few characters who she feels like she can trust and love and won't ever let her down. I presume she thought Tendo or someone else would take care of her bird after she left, since I doubt she would've just left it to die alone. That's the opposite of what I'd except her to do.

Dark Kabuto is one of my favorite Dark Rider designs due to how mysterious it looks. I like how Masked Form is virtually identical to regular Kabuto's except for the black Zecter and yellow eyes, it gives a feeling that something is uncanny and wrong about it and then it casts off in to Rider Form to reveal the black suit with red accents. It's really appropriate how similar it looks since the person under the suit also looks identical to the original, which happened before with Dark Shinji as Ryuga. Dark Kabuto is probably my third favorite Dark Rider design behind Dark Kiva and Dark Drive. Ryuga and Dark Drive are examples of Dark Riders I prefer to the original designs, while Dark Kabuto I like pretty much equally to the original since they both have the same qualities.

Oh, for sure. I can't imagine anyone ever has a plan in place for when they get pulled to the edge of space and time for a few months, but Sally had a key to Hiyori's room. I'd think she'd taken care of Hiyori's bird for a little while, before it became Tendou's responsibility, as all things do on this show eventually.

And, yeah, it makes sense that Hiyori would have a pet she could talk to. Although, you know, I feel like she'd talk to any pet? One of her first scenes was with her providing emotional support to a motorcycle, so I feel confident she'd have a deep bond with nearly any lifeform that isn't a person.

Yeah, those yellow eyes! I like my jaundiced villains/monsters!

Still, the nameless bodies are important to implement for both sides, for objectivity (though Tendou did care for a stranger too here in Keiko, albeit I think it's still for something specific that draws himself to her; her hardwork, unlike Kagami who cares just because, probably the kids being nameless nobody here can serve as that). Alignments should be viewed objectively. Yeah, audiences often do not get invested in nameless minor characters in shows. They only get invested in, and therefore care about, only the major characters that the show focuses on. By that, what happened to the nameless minors can be overlooked, and that can create skewed perceptions (either for audience or creators themselves), like making light of someone's villainy if a good number of it is done on bystanders, or protagonist centered morality where the narrative only treats anyone heroic if they are nice/favorable to the main protagonists, or treat anyone as bad if they're unfavorable to protagonists, regardless of what they do to the others (preferably non-major characters).

Oh, so you did have an anticipation about it having a potential for a true horror story, I thought for saying "to avoid in the future" means never implement horror genre or something (which isn't objective take in the slightest, it's just disdain for a genre, and that's not the show's problem but your problem).

This part once again brings up the humanity potential in Worm, like what Kagami dealt with before, which is done in Reina. The real Reina has been killed and replaced by Uca Worm, an executive Worm, but Reina's real personality, which is kind and wants to help people with singing, and also somewhat shy, resurfaces, due to Tendou's attack hitting a critical part of her body (if only others realize what happened there, they can implement that to try ending Worm's threat without killing them and letting them live as normal humans). And well, I think, don't treat the monster and the human as the same by describing her as a monster that thinks it's a person, that's the thing with Worms who kill and replace others which appeared earlier. Reina seems to not know at all about the Riders or Worms in her screentime here, her memory being purely human, continuing from the original Reina's life.

It's not merely friendship between those 2, they're making love already, the moment where a ladykiller in Daisuke genuinely falls in love for real. The Reina personality and the Uca Worm personality is completely separate, they just share a body as per Worms. All the crimes and killings are done by Uca Worm, it's solely the Uca Worm's fault, Reina wouldn't have any fault in this. Reina, currently, just had the misfortune of sharing a body with an unrelentless killer. It's like when someone has done a crime, but all of them are done in brainwashed state, they won't be at fault for actions that are outside their will, it'll be the brainwasher's fault, and an other media shows that it's wrong to punish, or kill someone who commits a crime all in brainwashed state. Letting Reina take over the Uca Worm's personality (and better, permanently) fully and live and pursue her dream as an opera singer would be a non-lethal way to eliminate Worm threat, in this case Uca Worm, like what Kagami thought of (or some other series did), so that is rootable, for me.

Daisuke cradling Reina is expected, with his love for women. I would actually give a prop for Daisuke here in his defense to Reina here, it's less obnoxious than what I'd expect coming from him is (like when Kabuto killed a makeup artist a Worm replaced before which made Daisuke attack him just because he didn't like it), Daisuke here differentiates between Reina, by refering her as a non-Worm for now, which acknowledges the Worm existence and its threat. Tendou trying to eliminate other Worm as usual is expected too for him, and Kabuto being Kabuto, Tendou's way would be actually the justified one for later.

Oh you aren't cheering or anticipating this one? I thought otherwise, considering that there are previous Rider series that also has this story, like Faiz' Kaido to Mari (and with you saying this as gross, this is also what some audience think regarding Kaido to Mari, especially with Mari being underage, and for Kaido's fans think this is the only con of him). Yeah, for this time, Misaki pretends to be dating with Kagami, and Tsurugi looks devastated, but this will lead to another thing of dealing with this in the next episode, with a good way, as both Kagami and Misaki are important to Tsurugi.

Yeah, this is why I told you not to use the name Dark Kabuto so lightly (to Ichirou in ep. 29-30), Dark Kabuto is an actual canon piece of the story like shown here. Also, with Tendou and Hiyori being actual family (and Tendou and Juka aren't), Tendou isn't violating Hiyori's privacy anymore for this one, she's his sister, and a part of family, which means normally, families live together, with knowing each other's possessions like the bird cage, etc. But what makes you think that Hiyori doesn't have a home?? Hiyori commonly visits Bistro La Salle to work, or Tendou's house for varying needs (or dragged in by Juka), but it's all clear she's only temporary visitor each times.

The Dark Kabuto is Souji Kusakabe, the one you refer (wrongly as he's not part of Tendou family) as Another Tendou! Like I said, he's very important piece, other than finding Hiyori, as Tendou also wants to deal with ZECT, it's also about finding Souji Kusakabe.

Hiyori probably wasn't planning on leaving the dimension but at least she gave Sally a spare key just in case.

I wonder what pets other characters in the franchise would have. Sento loves taking photos of dogs and Takumi would get along with cats due to their nekojita trait. Takeru actually does have a cat.

Hmm, that's actually pretty normal for Japanese culture though.

I thought Tendo and Jyuka were related through their grandmother?

I think most of us expected her to have a home but it's a lot more surprising that her home exists in the narrative which provides more insight in to her character. The environment a person lives in shows a lot about their mental state, which is why Kamen Rider Club in Fourze were surprised when they saw how Tomoko's room was completely different to what they expected.

Yeah, that note about avoiding this episode was just about not feeling like I'd want to rewatch it down the line. I certainly don't mind if a show wants to do a horror story! Not my favorite genre, but I'd like it if it's done well.

Maybe! But I worry that the Kamen Rider policy on Worms changing to Only Take Head Shots could have some slightly unforeseen consequences. Feels like it's not going to save a lot of Worm lives!

Don't forget Gills's dog, Count Zero.