It's definitely just to capitalize on Den-O's immense popularity by selling boatloads of singles. People like Climax Jump, and they like the Imagin, so why not put 'em together... right?

But, yeah, we're still very much in agreement about what's happened to the opening:

Can you imagine if they'd done that with Kabuto or something? I would've disowned the entire series on the spot. :lol

(Also, 41/42 are Ishida episodes, because of course they are. His last ones of the show, in fact!)

So we’ve finally hit this point: the last storyline I clearly remember from the show. I’ve known this one was coming for awhile, but honestly thought it happened earlier. As it turns out, I actually forgot a lot of the specific details from this one; I mostly just remember Deneb trying to get more people to know Yuuto.

It’s a really fun episode, though. There are a lot of great moments, but the highlight for me is absolutely the scene where Ryotaro and Yuuto recap the entire Sakurai plot thread while disinterestedly hanging out at an amusement park. Such a delightfully odd way to make an exposition dump more visually dynamic.

Fair point!

Oof! Disagree! Sorry this one didn't work for you!

I don't know what's more Ishida's signature: that entire theme park sequence, where it's Ryotaro arguing against the self-defeating nature of Yuuto's plan while the two of them right a kiddie coaster and Yuuto cradles a stuffed animal he won; or that Kai scene where he's bathed in orange light and doing stunts off of a scaffolding. Both of them are clearly the result of a director being handed pages of drama-free exposition (the Kai one specifically is like one of those directing exercises where the script is kept as vague as possible to get the director to formulate interesting visual scenarios) and Time Nonsense and he just decided to have as much fun as possible with it.

Which... that theme park scene is maybe the most definitive Den-O scene? It's a scene full of confusing exposition that tries to define the stakes of a major change that just occurred and the last forty episodes of a background plot while also being about the friendship that's developed between Yuuto and Ryotaro. It's serious, fraught material (Ryotaro is basically trying to logic Yuuto out of killing himself), but its sadness and melancholy is candy-coated and hilarious thanks to the direction. It's a tension, between the words and the images, that would wreck a lesser show. But this one just takes that friction and makes sparks with it. Pretty goddamn amazing.

It’s a joke on the VA. One of Seto Kaiba’s iconic quotes is “You’re a third rate Duelist with a fourth rate deck.” I also inserted a reference to to Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged in the form of the introduction being a reference to a memetic line from the first episode of that series.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-32NGYLqwAQ

I’ll discuss what I thought of the episode next time.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 42 - "MEMORY UPDATE”

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Please get along with Yuuto.

It's hard, I know. It's very, very hard. Yuuto is a character that is relentlessly opaque and aggressively taciturn. He suffers in a way that almost redefines suffering, and yet if you bring that up around him you've lost his interest. He longs for connection while refusing to connect. In every way that matters, he is Not Here To Make Friends.

And yet.

It's almost impossible not to befriend Yuuto, not to try to improve his emotional state. Like a lot of closed-off characters, he protests way too much. He makes a big point this episode that the reason he's refusing to make new friends and reconnect with ones who've forgotten him isn't because it'd hurt him to lose those people. No, of course it's not that; it's the damage those people would take when they forget Yuuto. So naturally the episode ends with Shouko forgetting Yuuto and then frolicking on a beach in the background while Yuuto talks about how much she's been harmed by this adventure. He's so committed to this martyr bit that it is, honestly, adorable. He is willing to sacrifice everything about himself, body and soul, but he's not willing to say that he regrets it.

And he obviously does. His new Zero Form is his anger at how much he's having to give up, but as a palette swap. He can put on a brave face and pretend like losing Airi doesn't mean anything to him, but even one day with Shouko exposes that for the lie it is. He's a sad boy who needs to have people in his life. He needs an outlet for all of this nobility, a reward for everything he's burned up in the pursuit of justice. He needs it to all be worth something.

So it's really poignant to have Shouko as the girl who is pleased to get along with Yuuto. Her whole story about the ability to change being more inspiring than the change itself is wonderfully convoluted in the most realistic way possible. It's exactly how you talk to someone you caught feelings for, where you're trying to express something deep and fundamental about yourself to them, but you're so thrilled to do so that it comes out in a jumble. For a boy who has no past and can't plan on a future, it's nice to see him paired off (even for just one story) with a girl who views the present as the most precious thing in the world.

Shouko was sick in a way that she couldn't hope for a better future, so she decided to live each day. Not, like, Live Each Day To Its Fullest or anything, but just live it. Be present for it and appreciate it. She might not have more days, so she'll try to treat this day as the one that matters the most. If she gets another one? Well, that just means that all her memories are of great days.

It's the flipside to how Yuuto has closed himself off to new experiences. Shouko thinks she could drop dead tomorrow, or Yuuto could just leave, or whatever. But Yuuto's there with her today, and they're having fun, and that's enough. It's taking the uncertainty of the future and saying That Just Makes Today Matter More. It's buoyant and beautiful and it makes Yuuto's inability to see beyond his losses that much more disappointing and heartbreaking.

As always, it's Ryotaro who's the hero of the story, because believing in people and not giving up are totally in his wheelhouse. Yuuto can't get attached because he sees those attachments burn up like a Zeronos card. But Ryotaro rides a train with the lost and forgotten, and they're only doing that because there's a chance they'll be remembered. Yuuto's okay destroying himself, or pretending he's okay with destroying himself, because he doesn't really believe in himself. But Ryotaro believes in everybody, and he knows that there's still a chance for Yuuto to be happy and remembered.

Maybe someday Yuuto'll believe it, too.

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THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Absolutely stellar episode, and a lot of that comes down to Shouko's actor. She has a gaudy amount of chemistry with Yuuto and/or Deneb, the type of chemistry that I think the show wrongly assumes that Yuuto and Airi have. (They really don't!) There's an indelible move Shouko's actor does in this one, where she's telling her story about how she motivated herself into appreciating what little time she might have, and she has this moment where she doesn't think she's explaining this right. In fairness, it is a bizarre monologue about today becoming the past in the future. But she gets this embarrassed look on her face, like she knows how dumb this all might sound to someone who is not full-time living inside her head, and it's the cutest goddamn thing. Her enthusiasm never wavered in this episode, never once, and it made her one of my favorite characters on this series.

-Like last time, not a ton for the DenLiner crew to do in this one, but I laughed pretty hard at the idea of Urataros getting called in to steer Shouko away from Yuuto, and Shouko being completely impervious to his charm. Ura's main thing is winning over women, and he never ever had a chance with Shouko. She just does not see Ryotaro/Urataros as interesting romantically, preferring the Yuuto/Deneb combo. Hilarious.

-The fight scene, also! Really fun to have Urataros turn around and there always being a truck directly behind him. Excellent editing!

-Joke of the episode was probably Kin suggesting that Shouko fell in love with Deneb, since that was what was inside Yuuto when they met, and Naomi politely suggesting that it maybe helps more if you look like a goddamn male model. I mean, Deneb's a fun imagination monster from the end of time to chat with, but have you seen Yuuto. Like, have you seen his face. All of his face.

Yeah, Den-O is one where I've forgotten most of the overarching plot (or what Den-O has instead of that), but this one I remember really enjoying. It's just great. Like Climax Jump Den-Liner Version.

In both parts, Kai is only in two scenes total, and he is very irritated by having to contribute to the plot. (His frustration at actually having to do his job continues to make him the best Kamen Rider villain of all time.) It's a great story for how it zeroes in (sorry) on contrasting Shouko's Today Is A Gift attitude with Yuuto's Today Is Just A Thing I'll Lose Tomorrow attitude, but it barely intersects with anything going on in the series arc. Sakurai is just randomly at this one hospital that Shouko was at the previous year, that's it.

Thankfully, who cares about the series arc on this one? Certainly not anyone on the production team! They designed an endgame villain who does not like having to show up and do endgame villain things!

Wish I could add some of my own insight here, but it's hard to say anything besides yes yes, that that to your thoughts on the episode. (And that catchphrase isn't even from the right series!) Easily one of my favorites of Den-O, and, as ironic as it is, by far one of the most memorable stories it told. I really like Zeronos, if that isn't clear yet.

It's so amazing to me how Yuuto's actor takes all of the weird, off-putting stuff he had to do on Hibiki to show how his character was a total asshole who thought being a total asshole would make people like you... he's weirdly still doing all of that, but it lands way more as the regrettable failure that it is? I'm not sure if it's how the show is built more to support him thematically (arguable; thought Kyosuke was a clever addition to the whole parenting theme, not a universally agreed upon view however), or how Ryotaro is more invested than Asumu in salvaging a demonstrably terrible person (Deneb adores Yuuto and is mostly beat up for it!), or how Yuuto gets to play the Deneb Possession and we all laugh at him. I don't know. But it's amazing that Yuuto seems to be a success in the exact opposite way Kyosuke pissed people off, and I feel like they're doing mostly the same stuff for slightly different reasons.

Anyway, hi, yes, Zeronos is super great, give Yuuto and Deneb the theme song while you're at it.

Well you got a point there for keeping the opening the same like Hana. Though as you said before Kai's upbeat energy makes him more menacing that way right? Kai is overall just creepy as hell.

The robbery feels like a revisit of the episode 15 and 16 about Ryotaro being the one robbed. Especially as in that 2 parter Airi was the central part of it defusing the situation in everyone, but here, Airi is the victim of the slapstick robbery. The 2 parter was likely a show of her saintly qualities, and I won't doubt that here but I also wonder how would she react to that thief when he's in distress (no, not about him being stopped by Yuuto where it should be done, but him in desperate situation) like at ep. 15-16, that this time it was her who was the target, not her little brother. But the street robbery slapstick caused harm to the other bystanders there, I sincerely hope that Ryotaro or Airi would help those harmed bystanders around them. I know this is about Sakurai talk between Yuuto and Ryotaro, but talking about someone else they know well is a common thing to happen and it's not merely an exposition right? I feel that the Sakurai talk is needed too regarding Ryotaro's views of him of well, probably you're right after all, that Ryotaro also disagrees with Sakurai's methods.

Well, lol'ed again about how Deneb is "insolent" in Yuuto's view that he again possesses Yuuto without his consent that it'll give people a false perception of Yuuto that they think he's that kind guy who gives them candies, and by that he'll just be dumbfounded of all the people's approach to him, and seeing him being set off to Deneb's antics lmao. This in some way feels like Urataros possessing Ryotaro that he gets the sudden fame with girls, that in Yuumi's episode before, Ryotaro got it full with the newfound situation with girls due to Urataros. But with Yuuto's memory problem, this act cleverly has more depth yeah which this is about Deneb trying to give Yuuto a lasting impression on people in an important agenda to keep Yuuto alive.

I know I know, Deneb is the best boyfriend material (and I'm glad of you acknowleding the beacon of kindness and generosity as the winner in that material, a̶s̶ ̶y̶'̶k̶n̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶), and you also acknowledge the limitless emotional support that Deneb has too? Well, for people being sucker to melodrama and revels in conflict, by that to entertain them, writers give therapists the short supply in many stories, due to the assumption that True Art Is Angsty, and to perpetuate the conflict for the audience. However, while it's understandable that Shouko would fall in love with Deneb by a short time, I feel uneasy on this part of her story instead that there can be people who puts a charming facade and fool her into manipulating her into doing something advantageous to him...

Now now... I feel that you have, lack of understanding about girls here, go learn to Urataros! How is it baffling for Shouko being thrilled with haircuts or new outfits?! That's commonly a girl's thing, or for what memes make out, for someone when they're starting a new day in school or college by maximizing their appearence (while the meme was after they stay long time there they no longer give a fuck about appearences). Jokes aside, I know that you've shown disapproval for high energy traits like the Airimirers, but as the appreciation of Shouko (or Deneb) here is based on her high-energy portrayal (like other parts of this episode like you said), this has been said before, but hope there won't be speaking ill of those not having loud, outspoken, or excitable demeanor (I also feel that Kai's main advantage for you to other villains is about his behavior being like this), deeming those kind of people as "lifeless" or such, treating the difference as disease and viewing them as lower scums in society. Talking about this as this is how majoirty of people view things and this is misguided and unfair. I̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶D̶e̶n̶e̶b̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶S̶h̶o̶u̶k̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶i̶r̶d̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶t̶e̶g̶o̶r̶y̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶c̶r̶i̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶o̶b̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶e̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶"̶w̶e̶i̶r̶d̶"̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶r̶o̶g̶a̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶.̶

Well yeah as it'll come up more significant for this Shouko thing, regarding burning up other people's memories of Yuuto. Ryotaro catches that sword strike in his hands, but, it's not a wise thing to do in combat (albeit not for Riders' much higher durability to normal humans). If you have the reflexes to block a blade, you also have the reflexes to dodge it. Do the latter and avoid losing a good chunk of your hand. The technique of catching a sword is known in Japan as Shinken Shirahadori, as a part of Martial Arts training. But the real life technique does not actually involve blocking the sword with a bare hand, but preventing the opponent from drawing their sword.