I was planning to use this exact line for a screencap, but from a frame with Hiyori's face in it. Really sums up the difference between our approaches to Kabuto, huh?

Anyway, Tendou once said "Those who travel the same path are no more than mere allies. Those who are able to travel together on separate paths are..." Well, they're something. Maybe ask Kagami how the rest of that quote goes.

I did really love that line though. It was such a perfect thing for the finale to have Tendou write his own wise saying for the first time, and the sentiment itself is genuinely quite beautiful.

That very first post I made in this thread wasn't me being coy or anything, for the record. I honestly had no intent to rewatch the entirety of Kabuto alongside Die up until after I finished the first episode and realized I might have some things to say. I don't know how many of those things ended up being of interest to anyone, but I'm glad I took the time out to do this.

I already mentioned how much of a newfound appreciation I gained for Kabuto, but, even beyond that, I've become yet more impressed by Die's ability to do all *this* on such a regular basis. Episode after episode. Paragraph after paragraph. I think I always say something like this at the end of these threads, but after making like a Worm and copying his entire shtick for two months, I'm also feeling it this time. I can't imagine only needing a couple weeks to recharge for another one of these.

So thank you, Die, for your inexhaustible passion, and thanks for going along with my sudden decision to arrogantly appoint myself co-writer for one of these things. Rewatching this show wouldn't have been half as fun if I wasn't doing it with you.

As always, I'm eagerly anticipating the next one. Maybe more than usual this time, even, for reasons anyone who knows my taste in toku writers can guess.

Inoue Kill also fairly leaps out.

I had another post I made as a response, but apparently it was so glowing and emotional that it broke TokuNation. That sucks! I love TokuNation!

In the hopes of sparing my fellow fans any further service interruptions, let me go a slightly different way from the earlier post (of which I remember only a few key phrases: "passionate intelligence", "hyper-competence and success", and "friend") and mention how bizarre it is to see you praising my work.

For someone whose work is always so readable, so clever, so emotionally honest... whenever you say nice things about my work, it's like I'm trying to decode some foreign language. The words are ones I recognize (the roots of them, anyway) but the way they're all configured is impenetrable to me. I can't understand how or why you're saying these things in conjunction with what I'm doing here. So much of what I do on these on boards is stuff I feel like I should apologize for. Having smarter fans than me find value in what I do is confusing, deeply.

But if you say there's value there, I'll believe you. That's just how convincing of a writer you are! I can't risk being as effusive as I was before, so as to keep these boards functional, so trust me when I say that your contributions to this thread are thanks enough, and anything beyond that feels unnecessary.

Funnily enough, that exact bit Kurona singled out was the singular goofy phrase my eyes were drawn to at all this time. I guess that's just our bond as disgruntled early Yaguruma fans or something.

It's okay! The gist of it is still coming across fine . Namely that you did in fact ask Kagami, and that for as much as we disagree, we will apparently always find common ground on one thing above all others – imposter syndrome. :p

Oh, and speaking of disagreements:

I don't believe we ever circled back to this? Feel free to tell us if your stance on giant beetle crests has softened after however many episodes of seeing Hyper Form in action. Or don't, and just kick back and enjoy this video of Hiro Mizushima playing with puppies instead! You know, whichever! It's your thread, at the end of the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCiwhiR9YWU

Ha ha, whoops! As I always try to put in the introductory disclaimers, I will frequently forget to talk about the suits! You know, nearly the entire reason these shows are created?

I honestly don't like Hyper Form. The beetle crest, iconic though it may be, is my least-favorite part of Kabuto's design (most favorite: glossy red chest plate), so Hyper Form's whole Crestacular design ethos... not my thing! It will always look dopey to me in a way that's difficult to articulate.

It's... I think it's a thing I dislike in a general design sense, that way a Kamen Rider headpiece can get so massive that it pulls me out of the drama. Saber's whole thing, the giant sword sticking out of his head, same problems for me. Blade, Kenzaki, same deal. (Not as pronounced, and it does look better in profile, but never going to be a fave suit.) My favorite suits are the ones that are more head-shaped, but with some small decorations: Double, Build, Ex-Aid, OOO, Faiz. The ones where the crests or antennas or whatever are too much of the focal point in the design, I check out. They just look less heroic to me, I guess, and more like the monster designs in a show.

So, yeah, not a fan of Hyper Kabuto... and not that big of a fan of regular Kabuto, even now. (It's the main reason I snagged that Seihou Hibiki first!)

Oh, and thanks for the video! I'm actually on a weird Gaim kick right now (stickering up SO-DOs finally), and I've been watching the CSM Sengoku Driver videos the cast did. Super funny stuff, especially the Mitchi/Takatora one. I'm ready to relax with Kamen Riders!

See, that's so crazy to me as someone deeply into both toku heroes and super robots. Big beetle horns = heroic is such a part of the "language" of those kinds of designs that I'm entirely conditioned to see it that way. It's like slapping a lion mane or a pair of wings on a dude; I see it and I instantly understand they're meant to be cool and important. It just reads as larger than life to me. I'm tempted to use the word "divine", even, but that's not quite right. It's just like, what I've been taught, you know? It's genuinely fascinating simply hearing you say "nah, not really my style", because that is an unthinkable thought to me.

Honestly, the big horn and the wings are the only things I'm particularly fond of when it comes to Hyper Kabuto? I appreciate how straightforward it is as an upgrade, but when it's not all opened up, the horn is the only part that leaves any real impression on me. It's kind of in this weird zone where I think it fits the series perfectly and wouldn't want it any other way, and yet I've never really fallen in love with it.

Personally, I've seen Stronger, so even Hyper Kabuto's horn doesn't seem that ostentatious to me.

The best thing to ever happen from this show for me at the time and still to this day are the Hell Brothers. Wannabe-edge lord-posers FTW. :rock:

I think a lot of it comes from how much my brain is wired for American Superheroes, and all of that visual language. As much as I love Kamen Rider for the ways it comes at superhero stories from a completely different cultural place, and its trying to speak to a completely different audience... visually, I still gravitate towards designs that feel like they come from that Superman > Batman > Spider-Man > Wolverine gene-pool. Round heads, slim suits, some small ornamentation, that's it. Wizard's one of my all-time favorite suits, and a ton of that (subconsciously) is because I could see him teaming up with the Justice League or something. The cultural signifiers that exist for a Japanese audience, all of the insect motifs and whatnot... I get it, but I don't have an emotional connection to it. Like, Build, though, with his blue/red suit and acrobatic quickness... that hits a button in my brain that says Superhero.

Anyway, yeah, suber-subjective. I'm still learning to love all of the design choices Kamen Rider makes. I came in through Ex-Aid, so I'm not at all opposed to unique or outlandish designs, but Big Thing On Forehead is just a weird pet peeve of mine.

Sure, but I don't truck with Showa, so I'm already Thumbs Down on that stuff.

They are truly exceptional. That goddamn Kamen Rider George From Of Mice And Men and Kamen Rider Lennie From Of Mice And Men, they really did a number on me. They got me ramping up my Figuarts collection, just to accommodate them. I used to think I could see the light, but it's been blocked out by Mandarake tabs on Chrome! All is darkness!

Darkness and ramen, darkness and ramen. :lolol
In case you are wondering what the exact type of ramen they each had, Yaguruma's is shio ramen, or salt-flavored ramen, while Kageyama's was miso ramen. The proper way to eat these if you are a real toku fan and a real hell brothers fan is either wear battered leather garbs from a vintage clothing store or wear green for shio ramen, brown for miso ramen respectively. :lolol