Where do you think you are right now?!

I mean, it's not like I'm thrilled to kick this episode when it's down, but the whole reason I started posting on TokuNation to begin with was watching Ghost and having a super tough time with it. Sometimes it helps to know that you're not alone in finding these shows not that great! It's okay to share that!

You know, when I was depressed and thinking I was the worse the last thing I think I would've wanted was for my friends to affirm that idea then blow me up with a rider kick.

So like as as a person who's lived through thinking their awful, and have no hope, can I say fuck this? is that allowed?

Honestly, that's the reason I'm most mad at this episode. Intentionally or not, this is an episode where someone hates who they are, wants to die, and the person who facilitates that is portrayed as a noble hero. It is ghastly. I find it offensive more than I find it stupid, and I find it plenty stupid.

I genuinely cannot fathom how the writer who did an entire series about learning to love yourself despite the parts others dislike, who has a beat in every single series he wrote (and almost every episode for series he guest-wrote) about how you aren't ever just good or bad, you're you, and knowing that makes it easier to get through your day... I don't know how that guy wrote this one? Wrote something so accidentally cruel?

So, yes: I'll allow it.

I forgot to address this, but you said before that Souji Kusakabe had childlike innocence right? I think that's done on purpose, Souji Kusakabe name is meaningful to him here, he represents the child version of Tendou but put in an adult Tendou's body, and teen/adult Souji is only Souji Tendou, as he's already adopted by Tendou family, but Souji was originally Souji Kusakabe as a child before he lost his family and is adopted by the Tendous, which means he's dubbed as Souji Kusakabe as he's literal separate child version of Souji Tendou, but taken to the path of villainy, due to his nature which is a spoiler. But being figuratively present-child Tendou, of course he would deeply care and be protective towards Hiyori too (with you saying he's suddenly devoted to Hiyori, which Tendou also kinda like that when they met?), and it's shown like Hiyori's flashback where child Souji cries out for Hiyori, Souji Kusakabe would express his devotion to Hiyori more openly just like child Tendou in that flashback.

Why is this one isn't a great part here? I feel like this part is just similar to the end of ep. 43 where Hiyori declares to Tendou and Kagami that she chooses to live with Souji Kusakabe in the other dimension, and isolated from humans as Worm's enemies, but here it's done in a good, proper way, which is rejecting the evil copy of Kabuto and chooses Tendou and the normal world, regaining her humanity.

From battle perspective, I wonder here that Kagami is still living, against Cassis Worm, after a longtime beating. I mean this is common in Rider series too, but previously, in Hyper Kabuto debut, that Worm outright killed him, which Tendou needs to time travel back to save Kagami. Sorry but the truth is, Kagami's "strategy" is no strategy, just him being a punching bag for Cassis Worm, and this is not something you should implement for "no chance of failure". And here, Tendou finally seems to accept Kagami more, or at least more open about it, with him accepting Kagami's assistance and gave him a smile, seemingly genuine one. Tendou is also more open to teamwork now, which is noted below.

Yeah, here, Kageyama has apparently redeemed to become an anti-hero, more explanations on Sh Ranger Quote below. Kageyama still has a sliver of light left on him and that influences Yaguruma instead, in a role reversal to take part as KickHopper. But I had to tell you though, "looking cool in front of his underlings" isn't a heroism service. The point that is addressed by another series is that, worshiping violence is not a heroic trait (if looking cool refers to him being powerful enough to fight off monsters). Fighting for justice isn't done because fighting monsters is "cool", but to protect others. The heroism service here is Yaguruma following Kageyama's suit for once by fighting Cassis Worm too as KickHopper, not about "looking cool in front of his underlings".

What I like here is also that Cassis Worm is used as a stepping stone to show the power of bonds and teamwork (I don't usually like heroes in numbers just ganging up on someone, but this one's making a clear point), which Kageyama clearly failed to get, with his selfish and prideful approach just end up ruining the fight and rightfully became his downfall, but the later 3 Riders implement this, because that Cassis Worm can't reflect multiple finishers, and apparently left him vulnerable to Maximum Hyper Cyclone.

OK, now Another Tendou has formally refers to himself on this episode, which is Souji Kusakabe, if you don't want to refer to them by name before they did it directly in the series. So refering him to "Another Tendou" is just plain wrong. Besides, probably yeah, this is also a character development for Tendou. Development isn't only about how someone who at first is hateful changes to a gentler approach to others, but here, someone who loves other dearly doesn't mean they're completely in the right, even regarding that person. Tendou is an overprotective big brother, for both Juka where he goes apeshit when he thought Juka gets a love, and for Hiyori to taking logical extremes to make her safe, and also this is a part where Tendou is mostly concerned about saving lives only, but is inconsiderate for the other life problems, like in ep. 15 where Tendou just asks for Kagami's gratitude because his life was saved, and indifferent to Kagami's depression of being used as pawn (or at best, tough love for him). So Tendou also indirectly inflicts this to Hiyori too, thinking that if she lives, then it's ok for her. But no, at least in Hiyori, Tendou had to learn that there are more life problems than you being saved or not, which is Hiyori getting to actually live the life she has, by making her not feel empty for living. Tendou now takes account to try making Hiyori smile too, by trying to taking care of the world she lives in, making the world feel safe for her.

Tendou's approach and reassurance to Hiyori, of course. It reaffirms that heroism isn't only about saving lives, but there are also other problems in life, which KR franchise dubs as "protecting other's smiles". And while I can be less warmed if the scene is about someone only provides justice to particular kinds of beings (like Daisuke to Gon), this one between Tendou and Hiyori is one of the exceptions, probably because Tendou's words here feel more impactful and had more warmth (probably also due to Hiyori's condition) to me.

At best anti-heroic redemption for Kageyama, after spending the earlier part of the series as an anti-villain at best. He fights monsters, but show negative traits like him refusing to take an order. And lol, for those people who bash on traditional heroes and think kindness and compassion is weakness, thinking of them as hindrance to the more pragmatic way anti-heroes can employ against enemies (no hesitation, etc.) that they think can get the job done, this is a clear show of the toxic approach that it can be a weakness as well! Kageyama refuses to listen to Kagami as someone inferior to him, and he just made the situation worse! He tries to do the finisher himself, and Kagami tries to combine it but too late, resulting in Cassis Worm copying 2 finishers and its a downfall to Kageyama.

Other than that, Maximum Hyper Cyclone, I know that base Kabuto's Rider Kick is a favorite to many, but typically I find beam finishers to be flashier and looking more powerful like this one, but doesn't mean all (my favorite base finishers are something like Faiz' Crimson Smash and Drive's SpeeDrop which are kicks, and Drive also had a beam, which I liked too, on Tridoron mode where he shoots the NSX right to the opponent).

It's ok to feel pity for someone like Souji Kusakabe, but doesn't mean that people can use headcannon and paint him as a saint. Not talking about Souji Kusakabe, but it happened numerous times in other media, where because of tragedies that happened to them (as one of the reasons) to them that magically explains their every evil deed, sometimes even making them a good guys (optionally villainizing the actual heroes), etc. "He's not evil! He's just misunderstood! The heroes are jerks who don't understand what they're going through!". You don’t have to be a flawless person or even a good person in order to be or have been a victim, being a bad person or doing bad things does not disqualify you from the victim status. Conversely, being victimized at some point in your life does not automatically make you a good person or a hero, and does not preclude you from doing evil things and/or being a perpetrator of crime/abuse.

I think Kabuto destroying Tsurugi, the Worm, is more like avenging him as a person and salvaging the good in him. Tsurugi's goal has always been to avenge his dead sister and now that he knows the truth about what he is, the only way he can do that is by dying, so that both he and his sister can have closure for their deaths.

This episode is a little different from Inoue's usual execution of his themes but the idea is still there. It's like how Takumi spared Kiba due to considering him a human, but also acknowledged that all Orphenochs, even the good ones, needed to die so humanity could live. This can be justified since Orphenochs already experienced death as humans before reviving as Originals or through mutagen injection. The life of an Orphenoch is a dilemma that never ends.

Applying this concept to Kabuto, Tsurugi was killed by a Worm, before being "revived" as an echo in the mind of that Worm. So Tsurugi wanted to accept his death as a human to be free of the evil that was keeping him alive, a second life he never should've had. That's my take on it anyway. The part with him pretending to suddenly become a serious villain and making Cassis Worm look like a chump was a little unexpected though.

This is in no way Inoue's best work but I'm kind of surprised that your least favorite episode of Kabuto and maybe KR in general was written by Inoue and not Yonemura, who wrote your least favorite arc of Hibiki. Maybe you should change your catchphrase to "Inoue Most Of The Time". :p

Yeah, it's kind of like a parody of a common trope in KR, where a character gets a redemption accompanied by a new suit or power. It's made to look like Kageyama is about to get a redemption, until we're reminded that he never made any effort to redeem himself, so changing his suit makes no difference. He never changes, therefore his attempted comeback goes just as poorly as everything else he does.

I have to complain about The Bee Zecter though, returning to users it already abandoned just cause there's nobody else it deems worthy. I mean, would you accept an offer to become a Rider if it meant being always second best to someone else who declined the offer?

Maximum Hyper Cyclone is one of the reasons why Perfect Zecter is my favorite Final Form weapon. I love how overkill it is! However, I also agree that default finishers can still be spectacular, with Crimson Smash and SpeeDrop being excellent examples you mentioned.

For sure, it's totally possible to acknowledge someone as a villain, but also a person who has been turned in to villain through tragic backstory. I won't defend Kusakabe's actions towards Hiyori but I can understand why he feels so betrayed and resentful of the world he couldn't control. He's a foil to Tendo in that way, by being someone who is affected by the world while Tendo is someone who affects the world. It's all about control and freedom, which is something that Kusakabe doesn't have and that makes him feel similar to how Hiyori was feeling when Tendo was trying to force on her a life that wasn't whole. Befitting his aesthetic as a Dark Rider, Kusakabe is like a shadow of Tendo's past but he's stuck there and can't escape or move on.

I, uh.

Sorry I like respecting everyone's different interpretations on a piece of art and all, but I have absolutely no clue where you're getting the idea that the moral of 555 is genocide? Like, even on a literal level; it's hardly like the series ends with Takumi and Kaidou killing themselves if that's truly what they think! But I just genuinely do not know how you can watch 555 and come away with that

Okay, maybe I didn't explain that as effectively as I could have. It does sound pretty terrible to read. When I said they need to die, what I meant is that they need to go extinct. Without the King, that's already inevitable so there's no reason for Takumi and Kaido to kill themselves, although Takumi wouldn't have had much time left due to Kiba accelerating his decay.

Sorry about the misunderstanding.

I mean, the end part is good! It's the lead-up to that end that I wasn't thrilled with. It's an episode that depends on two of the people who know Hiyori best forgetting that she pushes people away. All the stuff you're talking about is the end part, which I liked!

Getting the crap kicked out of him while Kabuto does something clever is literally what Gatack is best at! It's what he brings to the team!

I agree that Yaguruma trying to look cool in front of his underlings isn't heroic. I don't think it's intended to be, and I don't think I ever said it was? It's selfish and petty, but, like, so is Yaguruma. I'd disagree that him entering the fight is due to some higher morality, though. His beef was more of a payback thing?

Okay! Sometimes there are jokes!

I feel like a lot of that, the extinction stuff... I think you can read it as just Orphnochs living a human life going forward. No eternal life, none of the things that put them above humanity. Just a bunch of mortal creatures trying to find happiness.

It's something Inoue tries and fails to bring up in this episode, where Misaki wonders what the difference even is between Worms and humanity. Tadokoro basically says he doesn't know, and that grey area is where Inoue usually operates with his sympathetic monsters. I'm not sure I'm onboard with a read where Tsurugi deserved to die? He was capable of heroism, of sacrifice, of humor, of grace, of friendship, of love. He wasn't some irredeemable monster who was only a shadow of memory. He didn't deserve to die.

To be honest, I probably wasn’t paying much attention when I watched this episode. Either that, or I forgot about it with the next three episodes.

But I can say that I’ve taken the positivity towards a show with a re/blue duo based on beetles with the latest episode in my thread.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqIqanW...jpg&name=large

Yeah, I think that's why Takumi's philosophy that humans only stop being humans when they throw away their humanity is the best way to show how his heroism works. I don't think I can explain it any better than I already did in my essay on The Unstable Mutation of Orphenochs in your Faiz thread. You could call it a genocide or an extinction but that isn't so much a "moral" but rather a consequence of the conflict. Takumi values people based on how they choose to live, not their species, not living for the sake of living. Takumi lives to protect dreams and that's why he can call himself a human.

Tsurugi didn't deserve to die when he was killed by a Worm. But as a Worm, Tsurugi still lived and died honorably, as himself. It's tragic but I think Tsurugi found what he was looking for at the end. But I can see that you really didn't like this episode so, to each their own, I guess.