I love a good "No, I'm not dealing with this" gag and 22 had a fantastic one when Haruka opened the door on Fourze and immediately closed it again. Loved that bit.

I still liked these episodes. I think it's a pity that Haruka doesn't take Sonoda's place in terms of actually showing up on screen, but it's Nao Nagasawa so I'm going to be unavoidably biased. It does seem weird that the character isn't more prominent from here on out, but Kamen Rider generally doesn't do a lot of recurring characters, just regulars and guests. I'll talk more about my thoughts on this in a few arcs.

I mean, the only way Haruka could reliably recur on Fourze is if she became, like, the faculty advisor for the KRC, but that's a preposterous concept that's not even worth entertaining. No, she's a teacher, so her utility to the narrative is now complete. Sorry!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 23 - “TEAMING UP WITH SWANS”

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Despite the presence of Cancer as a new Horoscope to deal with, this one had a real old-school Fourze feel to me. There’s a Zodiart, it’s running around causing trouble, all while a new subculture of students enters the picture. There’s not much in the way of escalating conflict – Cancer might as well be a more talkative early-days Scorpion, and none of the other Horoscopes get involved in this story – and stuff like Meteor’s secret identity is a fun wrinkle, nothing that’s really driving the plot. (Ryuusei does get to ask the big Can A Zodiart Be Good question, but this episode answers it with a resounding Not Cygnus.) It’s just the viewer meeting some weird new characters, and exploring a bizarre hero-worshipping subculture that’s grown at Amanogawa High.

Like, that last part is kind of this whole episode, for better or worse. The Ugly Ducklings are so complex and involved that you can’t really shorthand them the way you might Goth Witches or whatever. Cygnus is new, so that takes a minute to establish; Eguchi’s cosplay gimmick is new, so that takes a minute; the Ugly Ducklings’ headquarters at the abandoned site of the pool hall beneath the Narumi Detective Agency (!!!) is new, so that takes a minute; Misa’s combination recital/motivational speech/workout is new, so that takes a minute. The Ugly Ducklings… there’s a lot there, and sketching it all out – alongside four different Cygnus appearances (including two fights!) – eats up a whole lot of this episode’s runtime. This is an episode where we are kind of on this journey with the KRC, and there’s not a lot of room for them to do more than observe.

But it’s all pretty bonkers, so I don’t know what else you can do besides let this story of Temu Sieg play out until the heel turn. There’s some fun stuff to potentially interrogate with hero worship, and drawing the wrong lessons from warriors, and whatever is going on with Eguchi and Misa, but, again: sort of too much bizarre Ugly Duckling stuff to define for there to be much storytelling pushing things forward. The details are super weird and fun, so it’s never boring, but I definitely got to the end of this episode feeling like there were a bunch of details, but I wasn’t sure what story was being told yet.

I like the details a lot, though: great to see Miu corralling both Kengo’s bruised ego (he really wants Gentarou to stop doing anything other than testing Giant Foot!!!) and Shun’s weird footwear anxiety to get the investigation moving forward in a very offscreen way; any time spent on the chemistry between Tomoko and Ryuusei is a winner; I’m sure Ryuusei’s conversation with Tachibana won’t take on a great significance down the line; of course Gen and Yuuki both almost end up joining a heroic cult; and oh my god Gentarou scored a 4 out of 100 on his test.

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I'm not a mook guy, but I do admit that the action in this movie is enjoyable and that everyone have quite equal share of spotlight, and I guess it's how a normal human can show off how badass they are. It seems that despite Hina's monstrous strength, Satonaka is more effective of a fighter compared to her, though yeah Hina's strength is limited to her hands. The Riders seem to be more formidable in fighting mooks, like Eiji and Gentaro, compared to Satonaka, despite Satonaka being supposed the trained one compared to Eiji being the "newbie" (albeit dunno if Eiji still retrains his Greeed characteristics where where Ankh fights similarly), like for comparison to Gaim, Oren/Yoko compared to Kouta. I still wonder how'd Satonaka fare to normal humans in fighting.

This'd be (at least for me), the earlier part of the story where time stop is used, by Super Galaxy King, of which here, it's implemented like Clock Up. Cronus (which is one of my favorite debut) has significantly better implementation of time stop later. Super TaToBa has similar ability to counter Super Galaxy King's, but despite it being a new super/final form for OOO, it seems that Fourze Rocket States did more in the direct combat against Super Galaxy King (including blocking his beam). About Fourze having a penchant for drills, its writer takes cues from its previous anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Giga Drill Break!), and here there's even the scene of Fourze absorbing the energy beam from Super Galaxy King due to ally is based on a scene in that anime too.

It's a must, for a Fourze movie. After all, the KRC members names are all the anagrams of the first 6 Riders. Kengo Utahoshi is an anagram of Takeshi Hongou (Rider 1), Shun Daimonji is a kanji-based joke on Hayato Ichimonji (Rider 2), Miu Kazashiro is an anagram of Shirou Kazami (V3), Yuki Jojima is a feminized version of Joji Yuki (Riderman), JK is short for Jin Keisuke (X), and Nozama (Tomoko) is Amazon backwards.

Yeah, it's actually refreshing that Ankh coming back still honors the bittersweet ending of the series (I do think that this is one of the more enjoyable KR movie, where mostly I think they're underwhelming). Eiji never knew about KR series that has Riders fighting each other like Kobayashi's first work Ryuki, so he thinks Miharu/Aqua is inherently an ally, with Hina being innocent to be completely baffled of Riders fighting each other. I guess it's rather similar that Eiji reaches out to Aqua and it worked despite Ankh telling him off, to Gentaro encouraging Nadeshiko (in front of the villains, for the risk) despite Kengo's disbelief, where it worked too.

Though there's actually attempts to get Fourze to the moon which failed, it may seem that the KRC prioritizing Makise over saving Kengo in ep. 11-12 can be contradictory to the friendship focus as highlighted here to lift Gentaro's burden (also previously Yuki and Tomoko reached out Gentaro taking the truth of Nadeshiko being SOLU), despite it being explained that it's done to honor Kengo's mission left by his dad. I've seen people demonizing those who prioritize taking care of the threat first over reaching out to a friend, it seems that anything about friend is the most urgent thing one should do, or they aren't real friends. But then again, ep. 11-12 means that KRC is directly about saving the world, as what Kengo and Miu stated about before (for his mission, in Kengo's case), despite them being gift breakers. Dunno if those people are more interpreting that defeating villains and saving the world is about exclusively making the world save for their friend/circle (well, like a world for Ankh to return above), or about revenge to them for endangering their friend (only revolving around the main circle).

I mean obviously any main Rider can team up with any other main Rider, they're generally straight hero types so there shouldn't be no friction between them (albeit there's almost a friction between Gentaro and Shotaro here before Gentaro declares he'd prevent crying). The treat of Rider team up is obviously about the action scenes, with the different powerset of the Riders. Seen in OOO using all the combos against mooks, and Fourze using 2 Switch combinations like Gatling and Chainsaw, Pogo and Arm, or Chain Array and Scissors. Rocket States actually appeared far earlier than I thought, it's before Cosmic States, obviously it'd offer far less than it. It's Fourze's version of stuff like RabbitRabbit or TankTank.

About JK slacking off, this can be a reminder about how he's rather unlikable who once betrayed Gentaro, and how at least here, the decision to make him join KRC can be questionable, with this scene as the proof in him may be seen as not caring enough for his friends. That, if JK can't be even bothered to help them with "mundane" or "easy" activity like presentation, then he also wouldn't at their lowest. Other than JK here, usually people slacking off like this is always seen in negative light, that in school they'd be the problem student, in work they'd likely get warning or be fired, or yes, they just don't care enough in general. Though Gentaro got help from friends as returning the favor, many people want to be kind and make friends while expecting that they'd get that treatment; and them not getting it is seen as how rotten the world is (but one shouldn't expect others to owe and repaying, though).

Tell that to Heisei Vs Showa!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 24 - “THE MOTIVATION FOR HEROISM”

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Man, I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

The main thing that worked for me was the Tomoko/Ryuusei date stuff. (And it’s a date! I don’t care how grumpy Ryuusei is! This was their first date!) Tomoko’s whole Manic Goth Dream Girl approach instantly snapped their scenes into focus, while Ryuusei’s typically dismissive judgment became a compelling kind of grudging indulgence, and I could’ve watched another 20 minutes easy of him standing around while she kicked her legs while laying on the ground and trying to sense Cygnus Vibes or whatever. Adorable, and my preferred wavelength for this episode’s story about how heroism is more about being there for people – like Ryuusei wasn’t and Meteor was – than it is about acclaim or adulation – like Ryuusei has to take it on the chin in order to protect Meteor’s identity and effectiveness.

Because the Cygnus stuff with the Ugly Ducklings… too broad! Too cartoonish!

The Ugly Ducklings never felt like a real anything, especially Misa, who’s mysteriously good at ballet now (JK brings this up like it’s a clue, but it never comes up again or gets explained) and is just some psychotic fan for a merciless hero. I feel like her iciness demands more spotlight than she got – there’s too much to do with unraveling Eguchi’s connection to Cygnus – and what’s left is some wild-eyed acolyte who gets betrayed by the hero she worshipped. It’s hard to get a sense of her personality or goals, beyond hero worship and dancing (???), so her comeuppance lacks any real weight. She was a two-dimensional crazy lady that believed in the wrong prophet. There’s no moves to her character, so there’s no catharsis or shock to her getting used as a hostage by Cygnus.

Eguchi didn’t really do it for me either, and I generally love stories about people finding the heroism in the mundane. I just never quite got his character enough to make sense of him. Cygnus is the part of him that wants to be a hero, but for all the times it’s stated, I don’t see any of that in the Eguchi character that’s onscreen? Eguchi admires heroes, sure – he adorably dresses up like Fourze at the end and everything, doing little good deeds like his favorite space hero. But the concept of Cygnus as his ideal self, that never tracks for me? Eguchi doesn’t ever seem to want power, or adulation, or respect, or anything we’d normally think of as the downstream effects of heroism; Eguchi is just a guy who wants to celebrate heroism, even though we’re told he wants to be a hero. But there’s no moment where it’s articulated why he wants to be a hero, or what he thinks being a hero is, or how he’s even getting it wrong. He’s just ignoring people in distress, but not doing anything besides that, or suggesting that heroes don't help people. He doesn’t ever seem to covet the fandom that Cygnus cultivates, or live vicariously through Cygnus’s heroic deeds. And if the point is that Eguchi worships heroes instead of living their ideals – which is where I think this episode’s trying to land – I don’t know that him patterning himself off of Fourze instead of Cygnus is some huge character growth.

A lot of it is, like, you make Cygnus an alternate personality, and you’re kind of not talking about Eguchi’s choices anymore. Halfway through this episode he confesses that Cygnus isn’t a hero, so he’s not in a position to explain away or advocate for Cygnus’s point of view. That leaves us with a guy who, like Misa, worshipped the wrong hero, but at least this guy has some sympathy from the audience. But what he didn’t have, at least from me, was any sense of him taking the wrong lessons from heroes beyond an inability to see that heroism within himself. That’s a cute story, and a valuable lesson, but it’s such a minor point to make amidst all of the work that went into this story.

But! Tomoko and Ryuusei! On a date! That’s worth all of the Meteor plots so far!

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I'd love to swing right in with a big spiel where I talk about how these episodes have always been big favorites of mine, but they just kinda aren't, unfortunately? I can't even immediately recall any particular new thought I had about them during my rewatch, and what I still recall from watching them when they were new is the whole thing feeling just a bit... off? Like a story I *wanted* to really like, but just couldn't for reasons I've never totally figured out.

It *is* apparently Keiichi Hasegawa's first script for this show, and also Kyouhei Yamaguchi's first gig directing standard TV episodes of Kamen Rider period(?!), which might account for something or another, but I also think the kind of vague vibes stuff I registered is more down to the show consciously trying to make things feel varied, which is also probably where these ones succeed the most.

So maybe Die's onto something that the story itself is just a little hard to get a grip on? I've always loved that visual of the homemade Fourze costume at the end, not only taken at face value, but as the kind of bookend I love where it's a new riff on something we saw earlier in the story to demonstrate how things have changed from the beginning. It's just that, like Die, I don't recall ever getting anything very specific out of that either, which brings this post back around to the start, not having changed at all. I'd be very curious to hear from someone who did connect with these ones a little more deeply!

If I was forced to find a different way of explaining why it didn't work for me (and I am not forced!), I'd say it's a too-complicated way of exploring too-simple characters. Eguchi feels undercooked, and Misa is lacking a twist of any sort, but the world they inhabit for these two episodes is like a completely TV show that the cast of Fourze uncovered and crossed over with for a fortnight. So much work went into the Cygnus concept and halo effect of the Ugly Ducklings, but the characters that existed within that setup don't feel as thought out.

(Also, man, remember when Ryuusei didn't want to detonate Zodiarts because he was desperately trying to find the one that'll evolve into Aries so he can save Jirou? Well, Ryuusei clearly doesn't remember that, since he just up and Limit Breaks Cygnus all on his lonesome. I guess his pride was pretty wounded by looking bad in front of Tomoko, which is relatable, if still wildly out of character.)

Honestly, I liked the idea of the Switcher Havong a split personality that emerged when he became a Zodiarts, but they probably could’ve done more than what the episode did.

But there’s something of interest in this week’s actor trivia.

Sentai-lert

As Cygnus, our Zodiarts this week is voiced by the late Taiki Matsuno, better known on the Sentai side of things as Pierre from GoGoV and Shurikenger from Hurricaneger. Within Rider, aside from this, he’d return as an artsy kaijin who became the avatar for a member of this forum heavily involved in this discussion.

He was Cubi?! Now I feel even more let down by this story about whether kaijin can be good!

Considering how Utsugi doesn't want to be called Sensei, as she doesn't identify as one, I think she's actively trying to appear as an anti-authority figure, in a way that maybe also makes her sound a little like a moody teenager as a side effect. On the other side of this friendship, Gentarou acts so familiar with everybody, whether they're teachers or students, so I guess those factors let them meet each other in the middle or something.

Kijima used his talent of observation to frame Utsugi, but got exposed by Ryusei using that same talent against him with better precision. Kijima's major flaw is that while his lies and half-truths are convincing, he relies on them too much so they stack up until they contradict each other. Like, there was no way he knew about Utsugi breaking the alarm, so his deduction about her cheek tell ended up working against him when Utsugi's lie was shown to be irrelevant to Pegasus Zodiart. He basically only told KRC to show off how clever he was and then he learned the hard way that Ryusei was much cleverer.

How humiliating for Hayami!

Well, there's a difference between a creep like Makise or Sagara from Gaim and a person who acts creepy, which Tomoko has been called in-universe. Ohsugi is a little creepy and his behavior is alarming, but it's not like he's ever committed any crimes, despite regularly fantasizing about Sonoda and random misfortune happening to Gentarou. I think he has just enough self-awareness to stop short of illegal activity. And yeah, he shouldn't be judged for his below average looks, as the handsome Hayami is much more of a creep.

TV-Nihon must've been pretty crabby about having to explain all those puns!

It looks cooler!

I guess that's how it is with Utsugi taking Sonoda's vacancy at the end of a school year. All the more reason why Gentarou had to prioritize befriending her right away. Regarding Nagasawa, I'd say this is my second favorite of her roles after Ai from Travelers Dimension Police.

May still make Yuki and Kengo (post-development) feel more standout, like how Kengo still has snarky remarks to silly enough antics Gentaro does in being slow to Glee Club's declarations, but clearly accepting to KRC as friend and club like his conversations with Tomoko, Miu, and JK, or Yuki shoehorning space in everything that isn't repetitive and just her continuing to sing about Hayabusa for another singing occassions than just Queen.

It seems really quick that Sonoda was a student before in flashback, but now she's a teacher. I don't know how many time frame has passed though, if they're there for long enough that Sonoda graduated and becoming teacher that isn't new face to school or if she just got promoted to teacher for certain reason.

Getting some Makise flashbacks in how the boys approached Yuki at first and expressing admiration behind the doors and bowing to him, but turns out the Glee Club is legit. I don't know about which is worse for Motoyama, directly making a conversation with him (which Gentaro does) or about the nearby noises (or well, actual provoking like throwing ball to his paint, or even buildings for just existing), as you seem to think Gentaro's the worst one here for 'preventing him from painting' despite him hating Yuki. Though yeah, space time is definitely needed for Motoyama, but as Gentaro pointed out, the roof isn't an exclusive spot for Motoyama.

Maybe! That's certainly more charitable than my read!

I assume it's been a normal number of years -- college, training, etc. -- but Sonoda was not long for this show, and I'd guess that the producers didn't want to bother casting a Teen Sonoda for a single short flashback scene. But Hayami! That guy don't ever age in anything! It's like Dorian Gray, but it's Mutsuki looking twice as old as he should while Tachibana is pristine.

This was definitely one of the Fourze arcs of all time. Honestly not sure there's much more to say about it. The Tomoko and Ryusei stuff was reliably fun. Shun's Owen Wilson impression was certainly borderline problematic.

On retrospect, I think Giant Foot is ludicrous enough that it circles back around to being pretty great.

Huge disagree!!! Their chemistry was phenomenal, and Ryuusei's mild annoyance and endless indulgence is the exact right energy for Tomoko's relentless-but-goth optimism. They make more sense on this date than any pairing outside of Miu and my eyeballs.

My favorite non-date thing for Episode 24 is Kengo going to pains to explain the physics of Giant Foot's cosmic energy, and Gen just being like GIANT FOOT STOMPY STOMP. I appreciate the writer trying to give a little bit of pseudoscience cover to a preposterous Switch, and then realizing afterwards that literally no one besides Kengo cares.

Yeah, me now definitely agrees more with you than I do with 2019 me. Also, I cannot stress enough how adorable all of Tomoko's "lying on the ground shaking witch paraphernalia around" scenes were.

And just, like, Tomoko already knows what Ryuusei's thinking, even when he thinks he's being this totally-disguised secret agent. The bit where he does his internal dialogue cutting remark schtick, and she just repeats it out loud like she knows he thinks it's dumb but she doesn't care... so great, her clocking this guy early and often. Emotionally and psychologically, he might as well be wearing a big fake nose and a blonde wig, for how easily and casually she sees through him. I love it!

It's ironic that Perseus later got his left hand petrified by the Pen Switch after petrifying Gentaro's left hand first. Otherwise, the Pen Switch, which I know before from Climax Heroes, is bizzare as this episode points out that the pen is instead on the leg, rather than the hand. Relation to art, hands are associated with control, strength, and manipulation, but are also associated with art, expression, gentleness, peace, and so on. Feet are almost exclusively seen as symbols of authority and destruction, as well as submission to power, but Pen Switch is on the leg despite this. The Pen Switch being on the leg reminds me of a joke that only applies on my language, about an elementary school lesson in drawing isosceles triangle, which when literally translated from my language to english is "drawing triangle with legs".

Feels that the secondary debut still has equal share between him and Fourze, albeit it has Meteor fighting the stronger one in Libra. Meteor is established as a martial artist that is based-off Bruce Lee, using Jeet Kune Do, which in contrast to Gentaro insisting to prove that nothing is useless (though for this episode, he thought Pen Switch was useless at first), means about IIRC taking and combining what's useful in martial arts (hey, still an art! like below) and discard the useless ones. I feel that, though it's Bruce Lee stuff to make funny noises, it can feel that, likely due to KR's often, well I guess like art below, to me, mediocre choreography (I feel Geats and Gavv are those that meet my standards in fighting, and not all still), martial arts can seem to be just implemented as fighting stylishly, which may form the bad rep about it that it's inefficient, when martial arts is about learning to properly fight, not just throwing power around (like Thouser or Cronus), but to gain more fighting IQ in getting skills, techniques, and incredible defense. Albeit dunno if this stands out less due to Gentaro being also established fighter from the beginning of episode.

I wonder if there's more problem about this that isn't internally-generated, like how if art is turned into a job, something that many other people who excel in art may want (or maybe also the reason I don't want this path). Where if art is done in a job, it veers closer into forcing them to be perfect, at your superior's demands, and it has to make profit, thus it has to cater to the majority of the target audience, thus making it into a job can suck up the passion of an artist. Otherwise, it seems that for art, it's the opposite of be yourself talks, as in this discussion, it seems that art depends on others' reaction about it. While there can be kids who love the mediocre arts or Yuki's singing, there can be also those who do bash people's arts, of which, especially if it's majority (for example, perhaps, something like mediocre dancing in social media that got much exposure, but it's still how they express themselves), it can force people to change how they do their art to cater to them, if art is about connecting with people, where said art failed.

In general, sure, there are plenty of ways your passion can become an obligation, but Motoyama's dealing with a bunch of enthusiastic and grateful children; this isn't a story where anyone else's expectations are causing pressure or irritation. If anything, this story is about what happens when you don't consider the audience as part of what you're doing!

For sure! I totally don't mind watching this kind of flat arc as it still develops one of my favorite ships! I do like how the cult stuff actually contrasts how Ryusei and Tomoko don't want to get sucked in to that kind of thing, which becomes a connection for them. KRC is kind of like Ugly Ducklings for Ryusei, at least how he currently sees it, so a free spirit like Tomoko is a good accidental ambassador to help Ryusei see the benefit in their friendship, as a way to support individuality rather than supplant it.

I'd argue that this is actually totally in character and highlights one of Ryusei's flaws. Like with the Gentarou punch in Episode 18, the usually cool Ryusei will lose his temper and act against his own interest if he can get short-term gratification. In Cygnus' case, it's not just about making him look bad in front of Tomoko (first as Ryusei and second as Meteor), the way Cygnus calls himself a hero while imposing his twisted sense of morality on others is something Ryusei hates. Ryusei may lie to others, but Cygnus lies to himself, so at that point I think Ryusei simply decided for himself that Cygnus wasn't even worthy to become Aries Horoscope. Like Meteor always says, "I'll decide your fate."

My favorite part of this is how Giant Step plays, after being absent for several episodes. They knew what they were doing.

And yet the Pen module goes on the X leg. What a missed opportunity.

It's Ryusei playing along to infiltrate, but didn't expect that turns out AGHS doesn't have a dress code, so Gentaro did nothing wrong by keeping his current outfit. Thus Ohsugi is just being mean to the students because he can, as his motto of how students and teachers shouldn't be friends. Ryusei's main difference to people like Kengo is that Ryusei puts up an act to others while hiding his disdain, while Kengo openly shows his disdain towards the surrounding people. Though I wonder if Kengo isn't made to accept friendship faster by ep. 12 and still act like how he was at the start, he can fill Ryusei's role in becoming a Rider (that fits with his weak constitution) that is focused on saving a loved one (his dad rather than his friend) and has conflict with the main Rider for it.

It's ironic that there's a scene of Gentaro successfully making friends with most of the student bodies in school, contrasting ep. 1, thus he proves Yuki wrong about how schools need to be divided into groups, yet previously, there's a scene of people hiding their disdain for Gentaro, not only Ryusei and Sonoda for obvious reasons, but also Anko. It's indeed heroism to have Gentaro wanting and succeeding to give positive impact, of which while I agree of this being heroism, I do wonder about what defines heroism as some'd think kindness and being a good person doesn't equate heroism, that it's only reserved for high-stakes/risk situations or if they're self-sacrificing. It's typical for rival type characters to dismiss friendship, and they'd not acknowledge the value of others, they see other people as just burden. I guess it can be proven true in his eyes in JK being used as a hostage against Lynx. Kengo isn't wrong that Gentaro is indeed an idiot, he doesn't do well in academics. But his value is being a social expert in understanding others.

It can feel that Meteor's regular attack seems stronger than its Limit Break with him punching with huge Jupiter ball rather than just punching with blue energy. I often feel KR finishers are bland like this, only having attacks with energy effects, though dunno if this is about paying respect to the Showa Rider finishers. I also wished that Meteor's Rider Kick would be a literal meteor, perhaps something like Kiva to descend from a great height and making an AoE crater to the ground. I guess as a Kamen Rider Bruce Lee, Meteor vs Fourze is also about martial artist vs street fighter. The stereotype is also that martial artists are honorable while street fighters are more likely to fight dirty.

Heroic yeah, but as with many other secondary Rider, Meteor's anti-heroic type as well. He's like Ren or Makoto where their motivation is to save their loved one, and while they generally beat up monsters and saving people, their priority is said loved ones, so they can be complicit in the continuation of a threat, like Ren wanting to learn to kill by freeing Asakura or Ryusei letting Lynx go and as pointed out, can still have Lynx threatening others.

That's totally fair, but a) it's not really something the show comes out and states, and b) I'd've appreciated a little bit of narrative cover for Ryuusei to acknowledge that detonating Cygnus is kind of the exact opposite of his whole mission, even if he instinctively knows that stopping Cygnus is the right thing to do. Like, Ryuusei's on a journey, and he's being shaped by the KRC in ways that he might not even be fully aware of yet, but him up and destroying Cygnus feels like a massive step that the show treats like no big deal. (Again, no one comments on it!)

The little planets Meteor punches with are indeed pretty cool!

KAMEN RIDER CLUB MEETING – QUIZ: KAMEN RIDER URBAN LEGENDS!! EPISODE 06

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Tomoko! Too precious for this ruined world.

I like how much of this one was the kids remarking that various aspects of Kamen Rider Amazon were either cute (Mole Beastman, the Junglar, Amazon’s legs) or Showa-casual levels of horrifying (a bloodied Amazon, or Amazon nearly getting run over by a roller coaster). It’s a fun way to look at classic shows, even if jaded fans of Heisei – not naming names – cannot be bothered to appreciate Showa Riders in their original context.

Also, man, The Ichigou/Nigou Team is seriously unbeatable! Tomoko is exactly right that someone needs to break up that team to preserve the spirit of competition. (Although, really, I think it’s Shun who’s unbeatable, right? He’s won with both Kengo and Miu.) They never run away with a game, but they’re so consistently winning that it somehow feels like no other team is ever really in it. Give someone else a (Ryuusei) chance!

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I also want to know and learn more regarding this if you can?

I mean, I think of heroism as kindness when unkindness or indifference is easier; the scale is sort of irrelevant to me. Heroism can be fighting a monster that wants to bring ruin to humanity, but it can also just be letting someone know they aren't alone when it'd be easier to ignore them. I think that's something Kamen Rider has been great at showing throughout its history, and one of the things that's made me a fan of it.

So the Amazon quiz was harder to do than the others, since a lot of fodder for good questions is either in the official one, or could be answered by watching something else. But I still came up with something, so I?ll start by saying the answer key to the X quiz was A, C, B, and move on.

In spite of his supernatural origin, Amazon is still considered a modified human like the other Showa Riders. How?
A) The ancient mystic grafted the Gigi Armlet onto his arm.
B) He has an artificial heart from a childhood accident.
C) A fragment of wood is lodged within his ankle.

Amazon is notably the only Showa Rider from the first 5 years not to meet any of his predecessors and initially doesn?t ride a bike. So how does he receive the name ?Kamen Rider??
A) It?s the loose translation of the ancient Incan title he inherited.
B) A couple of kids note that he reminds them of past Riders and give him the name.
C) He reads it in the newspaper and thinks it sounds catchy.

Amazon has a different narrator to the other Rider shows from the 70s and early 80s. But who was it?
A) Eisuke Yoda
B) Shun Horie
C) Goro Naya

Thanks for the fun quiz!

Gentaro isn't smart in academics, but what he's good for is reading and understanding people. So I guess this makes him less naive than a handful of goody-two-shoes to know Ryusei's game to some degree. Maybe there's a reason why Gentaro seems to be more successful in winning jerks as friends compared to people like Shinji from Ryuki. I thought Gentaro would already know that Ryusei is Meteor based on this scene, but turns out that Ryusei punching him gets him accepted into KRC, albeit it makes sense that Gentaro praises Meteor based on that, unlike the two-faced Ryusei.

And ironically, Meteor may also see Fourze as superficial and fake like the view of honest enemy vs fake friend, with him thinking that Fourze looks for validation from others. It can seem that to some, likely Meteor included, being honest means being asshole who highlights negative traits while being kind is done for ulterior motives. Otherwise, seems that against the Dustards, Yuki can do some fighting with tools. And the justice talk here fits the usual KR theme of how the term justice is relative to people and can be misused heavily, despite Tomoko having good intentions to point out about Kamen Riders fighting for justice as a genuine fangirl. Kamen Rider in Showa though, says that human life is more important than peace and justice.

As I said previously, this is probably a dim view of mine, but my view of a friend is about exclusively treating certain people better than others. So indeed, as said here, those who aren't a friend of someone can be seen as expendable, depending on the person. Which is why I think having friends or being shown to be a good friend of someone doesn't necessarily mean one is a good or heroic person. Examples ranging from bullies in school with circle of friends, to extreme ones like exterminating certain group like cockroaches, the people they exclude from those actions still qualifies for a friend to them. Gentaro's the type who cares for everyone like most other main Riders, not only about the main circle, but his way is treating everyone as a friend.

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 25 - “THE PROBLEM WITH GRADUATING”

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It’s so Kamen Rider to have the story where Shun is at his most cartoonish – he literally dresses as America Clown for this episode’s cliffhanger – to be the one that takes the Shun/Miu relationship the most seriously.

As much as I enjoy Shun’s romantic flights of fancy, partially for how it exposes Gentarou’s romantic (and also Romantic) nature in pursuit of an idealized high school experience for his buds, I really like how much this episode grounds Shun in regret and a more mature level of admiration for Miu. Shun dated Miu because she was the most popular girl in school, and he was the most popular boy in school, and that was the end of the equation for him; she was arm candy, not a serious emotional investment. Then she wised up, self-actualized, and he figured out what he was missing. That’s the part I like the best: this isn’t a story about Shun being a horndog or a possessive weirdo or whatever, this is Shun realizing that he’s fallen in love with the Miu who leads the KRC, and that Miu’s worth looking like a clown for.

But Miu isn’t making it easy on him, because she’s got her own problems to deal with, and those problems do not have time for Shun’s grandiose attempts at reconciliation.

My favorite thing about Miu is that she’s genuinely good at her job. The easy way to do a show like this would’ve been to have Miu as some flighty brat who pushes people around without anything motivating her besides her need for attention, while the rest of the Club indulges her as they overcome her distractions and obstacles. But that’s not what this show does. Miu’s spotlight two-parter establishes her as a hard worker and a supremely motivated character – sure, it’s tuned towards popularity contests, but she is running full-tilt on whatever she sets her mind to. Having her declare herself the leader of the KRC and then whip these dorks and delinquents into shape is one of the many things that makes this such a fun show to watch. She became her best self in the KRC, and did something that finally mattered. She’s not ready to give that up yet.

It’s a melancholy story to tell, Shun and Miu graduating. Shun sees their time as a success, but one he can move on from while planning a future with Miu. It’s like football – the season ends and you move on, knowing that the team will continue on without you. But for Miu, the KRC is where she was the version of herself she liked the best – without that purpose and structure, there’s a team that will be great without her, and a girl that won’t have the chance to be her best self. She wants to prepare her friends to excel without her, but she also wants to excel with them. That idea of the KRC being a thing that she wishes she’d found early enough to really appreciate it, that’s a very bittersweet story to tell.

Which I am very happy about! I love a wistful story about moving on, especially when it can be a metaphor for adolescence wrapped up in a Zodiart mystery. Miu acquits herself incredibly well, which was expected (my favorite!), but Shun steps up his game to deliver an alternately on-brand ridiculous performance – every overreaction, every fantasy, throwing himself down a hill in despair – as well as a surprisingly subtle exploration of his genuine love for the woman Miu’s turned into. (That scene on the hill, where he seems so happy to have been able to get to know the real Miu over the last few months… amazing. Amazing!) The monster-fighting aspects are something I’ll probably feel more interested in with the next episode, because this one was all Miu and Shun. I am rooting for these two to be happy!

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Shun dressing up as a clown took me and the friend I watched Fourze with so off guard that it's become a running gag between us ever since.

I might be rather neutral on Fourze as a whole, but it definitely has that specific aspect of it going for it if nothing else.

It is Shun at both his most monomaniacally-focused (he has to prove to Miu that he understands he was being an idiot right now, in the midst of a pitched battle with Zodiarts, instead of piloting Power Dizer), but also him at his most big-hearted, since he's at peace with leaving the KRC for his own future, because they'll figure something out if he's not around, which means they did a good job as their mentors. Also, he's an America Clown?!?!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 26 - “A SUBLIME SLOW DANCE”

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I like how this one just lets you sit with Miu and Shun graduating, and what the KRC means to them both.

There aren’t really any huge twists or turns in this episode, which I think is smart. The Switcher is exactly the girl you think it is (Yayoi) for exactly the reason you think it is (not wanting to leave Amanogawa High behind). What that leaves us with is a more character-driven story of how you sometimes need to say goodbye to things, but you don’t have to say goodbye to the way those things changed you.

Like, Miu and Shun have to graduate; it’s happening no matter how they feel about it. Yayoi’s plan to attack prom is some Switch-sponsored lunacy, since it’s not like any attack will let her keep going to school forever. High school’s done, and they all need to leave it with as much grace as possible. Getting to really dwell on how they each feel about it, and what they want to take from the experience is basically all I wanted from this one. I just wanted it to feel consequential, and it did. We get multiple scenes with Gentarou acting as a sounding board for Shun and Miu, letting each character express their ambivalence about leaving a thing that meant so much to them, and that they aren’t ready to leave yet. That’s it. That’s this episode.

Except, I sort of lied up above, because there is a twist to this episode: Miu and Shun are staying on as advisors for the KRC. It’s a reasonable twist, them both realizing that the friendships they made don’t have to end just because they graduated, and leaving their friends is also abandoning their mission. Who they got to be because they joined the KRC isn’t done, because things like Friendship and Motivation don’t end just because you graduate. Shun and Miu still want to protect their school, and they still want to help their friends – neither of those require either of them to be high school students! You can still hang out on the moon as a university student!

But this nicely isn’t framed as a regression, or them clinging to past glory. Miu and Shun still graduate, and they go to prom, and Miu gets her dance with Gentarou, and it’s all very sweet, the pin the show puts in their story. (Those flashbacks to them joining the KRC! My heart!) Their membership in the KRC has never been about their academics, or their shared role as students; it’s about them all being friends and caring about their school, and that hasn’t changed.

I loved this episode, even if I can’t really pull much out of it. (I’m also sick today! Writing this has been a struggle!) The things that make it work are performance-based, or nice shots, or just a general bittersweet tone. I love how seriously the show takes Miu’s sadness, or Shun’s affection. Sometimes that’s all it takes for a beautiful episode of Kamen Rider Fourze!

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Like you say, this time the Switcher was kind of obvious. Though for me, it was because there are 4 guest characters with 3 of them having appeared as the Switcher in prior episodes.

And speaking of the obvious suspects.

Sentai-lert

Our villain of the week his time is played by Kasumi Suzuki, who was previously major villain Lije (and her unnamed heroic clone) in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger as a child actress, and Jyuka’s friend who unleashed a Worm in the high school two-parter from Kabuto.

Also, thoughts on the episode ending: The university the graduates go to being round the corner is an obvious cop-out because they aren’t going to jettison two of the heroes halfway through the series (unless the actors had to leave and/or were fired)

First of all, as a fan of a good dolly zoom I want to call out the truly excellent one the show pulled off in 25 after Miu rejected Shun's first promposal.

Second, this arc actually hit me surprisingly hard this time. Not sure if I'm just in the right mood for it, but everything with Shun, Miu, and even Yayoi and their various graduation anxieties really landed for me this time. Probably one of my favorite couplet of episodes from Fourze.

The Rider Girls song is still butt, though.

So I decided to check and see if the Rider Girls are still still a thing, six-and-a-half years after I last rewatched the episode. Their website hasn't been updated since 2019, but they put a new song and multiple remixes of it on YouTube just last August so I guess they are.

Here's a highly apropos thing they posted three years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-4...RQSz04&index=3

Absolute banger of a cover, IMO.

I thought we all learned not to quibble about narratively-convenient tokusatsu geography!

Ha ha, I found that album through a streaming service on a road trip a few years back, and the covers are really good. They've got a Kiva cover on there as well that was pretty fun!

I think it's interesting that this two-parter also happens to come at the exact halfway mark of the series. It sort of adds a meta dimension to the themes being explored. Granted, I don't think I actually thought much about that at the time, but it's interesting to think that as soon as you've watched 25, the episodes you have left to watch are outnumbered by the ones you've already seen.

I'd imagine someone on the staff definitely made those connections though, because they don't forget after this that these ones established the official graduation song for Fourze, in case they might want to invoke the themes of these episodes again for some very obvious reason in the future.

You're crazy! Get out of here with your crazy speculation.

I guess the series do take note of Kengo and Ryusei's similarity, where not only that Ryusei, though has the opposite of being two-faced, also acts like Kengo against Gentaro at first, but in different environment after KRC was formed and that Gentaro has successfully united the student body. Here, Ryusei is also depicted as a technical support in KRC as well, which was Kengo's role. Dragon Zodiart even thinks Kengo might be Meteor. I wonder about how Ryusei ends up becoming a technical support, where JK at least thinks he's good with machines, which I wonder if Gentaro wants to see how useful Ryusei can be, according for JK's remarks, he can work on Power Dizer instead?

Ryusei is depicted as someone who might outshine Kengo and make him useless, but honestly, for all Kengo's fears, Ryusei was constantly wrong, that the Magnet Switch really isn't ready, and none of his tips worked against Dragon Zodiart. And for being a martial artist, it seems that Meteor didn't really do differently to Dragon Zodiarts, where I feel that, perhaps as a better trained fighter, he should perhaps know what weak points or joints to attack in Dragon Zodiart's otherwise hard body (or perhaps it should be what tips Ryusei gave to Gentaro). I do think though, Kengo do genuinely view Gentaro as an idiot for ep. 18 one, so it's not his usual way, but Gentaro IS an idiot at least in lessons as seen in him struggling to solve simple math question. One can be an idiot but valuable in other stuff, like social for Gentaro. I do relate to Kengo as well that I feel I'd be overlooked, or unwelcome, or invisible in a group if not having value, including here for Tokunation. I've lashed out as well (including recently), likely not in an ideal place, due to the perceived uselessness or unwelcome.

Amanogawa HR department would obviously let at least Hayami orbit Sonoda, or at least are nothing compared to Gamou who leads the school, where Hayami is his right hand man. The school itself is the kaijin organization like Smart Brain! Egawa's main defining trait is her height (I can't find her actress' Yuki Kato - an exactly similar name of an actress in my country! height, but she might be even taller than something like Reika from Saber or Glotta from Gavv with Kengo being 172 cm, which is similar to those two's height), and this flips the stereotype of girls being the brains and the boys being the brawn, where Kengo's the brains to Egawa's brawn. Honestly, even for ep. 5-6, Gentaro acted like Faiz character in not telling Kengo and just distancing himself from him, which makes the problem worse like Kengo being able to use different tactics to Unicorn.

Yeah, I like that Kengo was right because he cared about making sure Gentarou won safely, while Ryuusei only cared about the victory. It's a good message!

I guess the credit for Miu's leadership seems to be about her directing on where to likely find the Magnet Switches, but Tomoko brings out her own idea that finally does find the Magnet Switches. I think that the members' own idea, independent from anyone other than the leader, deserves as much credit, albeit they likely aren't as good as leaders in directing people, which'd be their value, but the team members' agency, even if they potentially outshine the leaders or unthinkable to them, shouldn't be curbed. Nomoto's an actual example of that, who thinks all credit should go to him as the leader and claims that every success in the track field team is due to him, rejecting any different ideas even though it may be better, like Kengo's suggestions to Egawa's even after Kengo joined Nomoto's club (she was the friend Kengo knew before the series, which is why he was nice to her, unlike the girl in ep. 1; even when Kengo was still hostile to Gentaro, he was also nice to Yuki since the start of the series).

Nomoto and Shun are established as knowing each other, but it was never touched upon again. I guess this episode really answers about what you said before, about how the possessiveness of track day team captain being possessive, or Hayami being kept on, because Gamou is the owner of the school, so those two are what directly serves Gamou's goal and he prevents people investigating the school, albeit even Gamou threatens Hayami a bit for his failures. This is the meaning of the reveal that Sonoda was Scorpio, not about her, but about the school body itself, it's not an outlier in Gamou being the only monster but the school body is the villainous organization as a whole, with Sonoda being one of them. I feel that Gentaro's actually more hostile and jerkish at the end of the episode rather than throughout this two parter, where at the end of episode, he actually provokes Kengo into fighting, but previously, though unknowingly hurting Kengo's feelings, Gentaro always tried to reason with Kengo like trying to make him get along with Ryusei, insisting that it's important to see what Ryusei can do, or trying to make up with Kengo by proving the Magnet Switch works.

So turns out that Ryusei is more helpful than what I thought he would be based on him dismissing Fourze in fighting and friendship including letting Lynx go, and is only faking everything in KRC for his mission. I meant about him actually guiding Fourze as Meteor like him as a technical support to Gentaro before like him telling Fourze what to attack on Dragon Zodiart and buying time with Electric Switch (which for Meteor, it doesn't create a new form, I wonder what'd happen if a Switch about tools is used on him). More similarities of Ryusei and Kengo where Ryusei also had a fallout with Jiro like Kengo does to Gentaro here, and as Ryusei is hellbent on saving Jiro which was a result of their fallout, he has a decency to prevent others going through similar thing as him, thus he's actually being helpful to KRC, guess as Gentaro said, Ryusei showing anger is more honest in him grabbing Kengo's collar. I guess the reason Ryusei finally acknowledges KRC as a good team is due to seeing Kengo not repeating his mistake.