Which is why I think Dynazenon worked for me because Gridknight and Anosillus II were around, but there were a whole other set of struggles and conflicts that helped the show distinguish itself from Gridman. And the contrast helped create fun moments between the two shows when they were stuck together in Universe, I think.

Honestly I feel the same way a lot of times. :lol

For sure. Heck, just the contrast between Yomogi+Yume (that big romantic catch she has of him during the final act!!!) and Yuta+Rikka (all nerves and misunderstandings) is worth the price of admission, before you get into little moments between Akane and Chise, or Koyomi and Rikka's mom, or or or

So, Neon Genesis Middle Schoolers. I just realized all five, yes, Gauma included, all have experience in performing within the toku genre.

Ryosuke Takahashi, who voiced Samurai Calibur, was a toku actor in the Konami-sponsored Toho toku hero show Sazer X as Lio Sazer/Takuto Ando, a guest role in Kamen Rider Wizard, and Hudram, one of the main antagonists in Ultraman Trigger.

Katsuyuki Konishi, who voiced Max, was Gosei Knight in Goseiger, the robotic silver knight who was the tsuika senshi/6th ranger of the show.

Aoi Yuuki, who voiced Borr, was a young Mari Sonoda in Mari's flashback scenes, and the voice of Yurusen in Kamen Rider Ghost. She apparently had small guest roles in Gingaman and Gaoranger as well before Faiz, according to what I googled.

Masaya Matsukaze, who voiced Vit, was Mega Blue/Shun Namiki in Megaranger and the voice of one of the antagonists, Endolf in Kyoryuger. He also had a guest role in Hurricanger and played a small role that is important to the plot in Shinkenger.

Daiki Hamano, who voiced Gauma/Rex, was the voice of the transformation devices/weapons in DonBrothers.

Just wanted to share that while it was still lingering in my mind. :lolol

Neat! Thanks!

So to answer my own riddle, since nobody got it.

Dimorgan
Domgiran
Noirdogma
Mad Origin

Are all anagrams of Gridman… with an embarrassing leftover “o”.

Well, since I'm constantly hearing "Grid-o-man" in the dialogue, I'd argue that the O isn't so leftover!

THREAD WRAP-UP (FOR REAL THIS TIME?)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/wrap2a.png

Okay! Akane willing, and you all don't find another pile of SSSS content for me to enjoy, this is the really for real wrap-up to "Kamen Rider Die watches etc etc".

Once again, this was very fun to write about, and I appreciate everyone for giving me a space to do that. I hope it was fun to read! I'll be back in January with a rewatch of Fourze, since I can't seem to get enough of teenage dramedy mixed with toku action and adventure. It's a show I like quite a bit, and I'm looking forward to digging into here on the boards. It'd be great if you wanted to swing by! See you then!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/wrap2b.png

Going from churros to a burger and fries, huh? Looking forward to sharing our opinions about Fourze!

If you're ever looking for more Toku Anime to check out, I feel as though you'd get an experience out of Blassreiter.

You know, one thing about Fourze I always really loved was all the scenes of Fourze in that little test chamber trying out new Switches, for how it gave Takaiwa-san so many chances to flex his suit acting skills in a more mundane situation that didn't involve fighting.

I could have and probably will make that observation in the thread for Fourze when it happens, but thinking about that just now reminded me that I don't think I ever mentioned how one thing about Dynazenon I always really loved was all the scenes of the team practicing with their respective components of Dynazenon, for how it gave that show so many chances to have fun with the super robot aspect of the story in a more mundane situation that didn't involve fighting. Just one last observation for the road, I guess!

Anyway, Die, you've talked about Fourze over the years in a way that always gave me the impression it's probably closer to your heart than the average Rider, so I'm likewise looking forward to seeing you take the opportunity to get some of those bottled-up thoughts out there. I also know it's closer to *my* heart than the average Rider, so hopefully I can do the same... even I can't definitively promise most of those thoughts won't just be about Tomoko. :p

I am gonna make friends with every member of the Kamen Rider Club! Except maybe JK!

"An experience" is a refreshingly neutral endorsement! I will keep it in mind if I feel the need for more anime. Thanks!

On the one hand, I don't know if I'd consider Fourze a special show to me? I'm a big fan of that string of W into OOO into Fourze as a vibe, for sure; I love that section of Heisei, all those formulas and tropes. But Fourze itself has the same mixture of thrilling highs (a few really stellar two-parters, a blisteringly hot theme song, Tomoko) and crushing lows (I feel like there's a string right before the final arc where you could feel the show realizing it paced itself badly, not enough Tomoko) that keep it from the upper echelon of shows for me.

On the other hand... I couldn't say if it's closer to my heart than the average Rider because all of these shows live in my heart. I never ever ever look at these write-ups as reviews, because -- huge spoiler for over 6000 posts as of September 2025 -- I love every single Rider show. You're never gonna get one of these write-ups where I say that a series was a waste of time, or that I didn't love the experience of watching it. They're good Riders, Brent. Like, there's almost always going to be parts I dislike-to-hate, but the shows themselves are all incredibly special to me in unique ways. I'm excited to remember the ways Fourze was special!

Blassreiter was fun. Urobuchi and Kobayashi worked on it as part of the writing staff. And The voice of Vit is one of the main protagonists.