Um, actually, I think you'll find it's spelled "jirenma."

If nothing else, it would mean that we'd have a couple episodes where Murakami tries to get Keitarou into Lucky Clover. That could be fun.

This is one of those images that makes it so much easier to see Knight's eyes and I hate it

Technically, since ma starts with a bilabial consonant, it's phonetically closer to "jiremma".

That would be hysterical! Murakami would have to lie so hard about their true intentions to convince Keitarou that Lucky Clover aren't the genocidal club he thinks they are.

I mean, this is a topic for the end of the series, but they are mining a lot of the same thematic territory!

It's an incredibly tough thing to balance, and I think these last two episodes did a good job of it. And, like the ways the hangout scene added more loss to Yuka's predicament, the humor provides a baseline that the tragedy can exploit. There's a great symbiosis right now between the two tones.

How dare you imply that there's an error in TV-Nihon's translation. I am offended to the very soles of my banana new shoes!

No offense to Yuka, but I think at this point Murakami is just getting desperate. If the show went on past episode 50 I feel like we'd see him start trying to track down Chaco for the fourth position.

The worst part is, "Dilemma" is just written in English in the lyrics...

Well, when it comes to dogs, Chaco is the best of the best. I'm not sure how that translates to killing humans (poorly? I'm going with poorly), but Murakami can probably work out a bribe with a briefcase full of treats or something. :lol

Sure, Keitaro's a bit inappropriate here (and you saying "a little too aggressive"... this is still far better than Kaido's hijinks to like, Mari, in fact some people only dislike that part of Kaido, but like every other part of him, because it's too creepy, not to mention Mari being 16 years old), I mean even for "keeps trying to butt in", Keitaro and Yuka iirc only interacted again IRL for now, Keitaro definitely isn't the part to consistently butting in to the point where it becomes unbearable. but I would like for Yuka to find another way, instead of acting like stereotypical snobby girl (I mean, girls can give hints to boys that she likes them without showing/uttering it openly, the opposite can be done, and probably it'd be even better if Yuka done it in an indirect way, indirectly hurting Keitaro too).

It makes sense, but you saying "great at running down people verbally" indicates to me that it's the asshole act being successful, not impotent, that it gives me a vibe that you like it that Kusaka's so successful of being an asshole that he's so charming in it to win over others with his acts. But I've understand now the funny part also partly due to it being ignored by others, though there are definitely assholes who are consistently the most successful in-universe, like Kitaoka who is the super lawyer, which would mean the asshole acts can't be impotent coming from someone so influental.

For all the talks about the art discussions and how opinion can't change, I sort of disagree with that, because of someone stated here, and your review here is also an example of changing opinions, based on what I judge from the previous episodes. Oof no, don't cement Kaido's decision as smart! Don't promote dick acts! It'd be benefical for sure, only for Kaido, and obviously the idea of smart to people like him is gaining advantage as much as you can. Yuji makes sense because what he advocate is justice for Orphnoch, which would mean it's meaningless to solely focus on Yuka, if he's on similar position, he would get the similar treatment as Yuka too, so he's the one that has to deal with this. Not to undermine that this is a good thing, but it doesn't have to be something like Yuka's story to have many interpretations. Anything can have many interpretations, but many of them can be clouded by many things like biases or lack of understandings. Like someone is established as selflessly heroic and saves/takes care of someone, particularly of the opposite gender. but people interprets (demonize) them as wanting to suck up to that person to get laid or something. This is apparent in shippers but not necessarily from them.

That's what Sawada wonders too, him the only one that becomes an Orphnoch. Also glad to see you still think about very suspicious way for Kusaka comforting Mari in this episode (it can be mistakenly thought as "Kusaka is actually good guy, look how he interacts with Mari here", nevermind I'm just stirring shit, Kusaka's infamous for good reason). And with Kusaka assuring Mari that the reaction makes sense, what's in him to avoid telling her and went apeshit to Takumi for making her know? (oh wait, probably nvm for the latter)

With Kusaka being in steadfast that all Orphnochs should be killed indiscriminately, we got another one that runs on that, which is Minami, but purely on antagonistic side, with him capturing Yuka and experimenting on the other Orphnochs, and deeming her life as worthless. Oh and also, leaving his workers on their fate when the Crab Orphnoch intervenes. Takumi defending Kusaka here is futile because that Orphnoch is killed while running away, and that Kusaka still succeeds in his objective here.

So Soeno types on the place that is used to be where Mari lives, for in-series?!

Well, not all horrible is expressed in the same way. Kusaka obviously runs in different way than Kitazaki. Kitazaki is a plain murderer who simply just wants to have fun, no convoluted schemes, just kill to get what he wants. Kusaka wants to have Mari and destroy Smart Brain, he operates by soap opera-ish scheming and manipulating, by that he would keep the people who would be useful to him around, that can be a trait of manipulative sociopaths to be two-faced and keep certain people around as long as they're useful to them but discard them when they're no longer such. Takumi is useful to him as another force to fight Orphnochs, and that's why he can keep him around and seemingly works outside. But obviously he's also a threat to Mari, another part of his goal, so he also schemes to give him and others like Yuji bad name. When their goal is completed, who knows what'll happen that they won't share any mutual goals anymore and him disposing others, but of course, we'll never get to see that. Also what's with you saying "goal to protect humanity"? You summed up there he's not of justice. He can kill Orphnoch and it can indirectly protect humanity but doesn't mean he has a goal to protect humanity. It's actually one of the opposites highlighted between Sento and (Takumi!) Katsuragi in Build, the former wants to protect and atone, while the latter only focused on destroying the enemy. Wanting to destroy something considered an enemy isn't necessarily a goal to protect humanity, and Kusaka is certainly that, even much worse. And you also get Minami here, who also operates on the same way, to exterminante Orphnoch based on racism.

Oh yeah, Crab, the one Ren witnesses killing Scissors, placing the blame on Volcancer to reassure that he hasn't killed yet. And beat the crap out of him before Shinji came.

Sure, that's fair. She definitely snaps at Keitaro here, but I'd argue that it's all heightened emotions with this group right now, where Yuka's desperation to get Kaido's approval/interest makes a little less considerate of Keitaro's feelings. No one's blameless in this one!

I mean, there's a real pragmatism to Kaido's actions. Yuka publicly attacked a squadron of cops, who are probably not just going to forget about it. Turning herself in would deescalate the situation for everyone. It'd help Kaido, for sure, but it'd also probably keep another squadron of cops from attacking Yuka. There can be other beneficiaries of his self-preservation!

They had a decade to rebuild it after the fire, I guess?

That was my mistake. I meant that they're aligned by their actions of protecting humanity, indirectly for Kusaka, despite having different goals. Minami isn't sympathetic like Kusaka though, we don't know his backstory or why he hates Orphenochs so much. Kusaka is wrong to hate all of them for the actions of Kitazaki alone but there's a foundation for him to feel that way. Furthermore, Minami is an unethical scientist, experimenting on them against their will, just like the Devil Scientist in Build although he was experimenting on his own kind and out of ruthlessness to save the world rather than hatred. Kusaka still wants to protect Mari though and he'll always put that above his desire to destroy the enemy, unless it means assisting Smart Brain. That's one of the lines he won't cross, another being that he won't kill a human even if he has Medium Contempt/Low Useful for them. He doesn't have many principles but he's not completely unfettered like that murderer Kitazaki.

Alright, I still need to write up Episode 43 (Sneak Preview: "OH MY GOD THIS PERFECT BEAUTIFUL SHOW"), but in the meantime I'm assigning homework. Please spend the next however-long-it-takes-until-I-post-next to marvel over this exquisite shot:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...amaoneshot.gif