Actually from what I read in other discussions yeah, your joke is probably right, the plot of Kabuto had to undergo some pretty heavy unplanned revisions. Well yeah Negishi's plan had another opposite other than the theme characters like Tsurugi and Reina went through (species-wise), but as this is a confrontation between the main protagonist and antagonist, this is done here where Negishi, the T̶e̶n̶d̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶a̶n̶ unassuming Native but turns out to be the mastermind, had well-intention, but has xenophobia in mind to treat humans and Natives with double standard that leads him doing horrible means to achieve it, where while humans did do horrible stuff, Negishi thinks that only humans are capable of doing that and has unpleasant nature, and neglect the Natives (and also, H̶o̶p̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ irl edgelords can comment like this if they see a fictional species breaking down humans' flaws).

But the ones who propose the peace and worked on that plan is also a living being. They are as flawed as the rest of humans, some more than others. They have not proven themself any more capable as peacemakers than anyone else. In fact, whenever they were in power, things seem to be far worse. One of the key to change is that, you yourself should acknowledge your own flaws and change first (although... coming from Tendou, someone who didn't have drastic change through the series due to him already being perfect while the others are using him as benchmark), instead of being self-righteous and pinning mistakes on everyone else. But still for your talk about Tendou viewing personal achievement as societal good, character education is necessary too to go with that. Someone can improve your intelligence by working hard, but without good character? They may turn into something like, bomber.

Yeah, the final fight feels lackluster here, for one simple thing, there are no Clock-Up here?! This even happens in phase 1 series too where the powerset is more simple compared to phase 2, the fighters (should going all out with the fights between the worst enemies) not utilizing their power efficiently. For what you said about this being something that fits more in Faiz, this is also the similar complaint about the fight with Orphnoch King at the end. Gryllus Worm has tentacles and seems to live up physical power wise, where he's able to resist Maximum Hyper Typhoon and break the Perfect Zecter by that, but there's something that is usually significantly more dangerous than brute strength, which is super speed, and every Worm has that in Clock-Up. And big bosses (uhh, if you refer to Negishi, he's not the big boss, Gryllus Worm is, Negishi is the second-in command to Mishima, Mishima's the main antagonist) have even more than that, like Caucasus' Hyper Clock-Up which makes base Rider's Clock-Up slow as a snail, and before, the sub final boss of the series, Cassis Worm, which can outright stop time, and had Tendou use trickery to deal with him. It's underwhelming not to have the most important and deadly powerset in this series take part in the final fight here, and also ways about it to counter Clock-Up or even Hyper Clock-Up like Caucasus and Cassis Worm did.

They made Souji Kusakabe's redemption here, though it being plausible or not is debatable. Many of redemptions are unfortunately forced one yeah, and which is why I can agree with you too for keeping assholes the way they're on the series. But well, Negishi is a fodder Worm, he's nobody in fighting capabilities, so he'd die that easily like other fodder Worms did, and like Souji Kusakabe himself which is a Native. And that's probably why the sacrifice is nonsense too here; fodder Native like Negishi wouldn't have stood a chance against the Riders like Dark Kabuto.

Misaki inherits Discabil to honor Tsurugi along with Jiiya. And so Tadokoro being related to food is something in Yonemura's mind as well... (it's first revealed in Inoue episode, that can make characters OOC or away from their usual plot sometimes). And Daisuke, due to actor too, is gone for a good number of time in the series, but he arrives here suddenly being amiable with everyone else (unlike Gon who still has bratty traits here by boasting about her beauty), granted that a good number of people there are women but still. This goes for Misaki too regarding him even with Daisuke pulling his usual nonsense, them sitting together in a table, along with Tadokoro too. And previously Misaki also outright hugged Kagami, when while she cares for him, she can put him beneath him (in ep. 40) and treats him as subordinate. Hiyori and Juka are now officially sisters too, both being Tendou's own.

Kagami here is interacting with nobodies though in contrast to the cast? (to show Kagami's ideals though this has to be done, have him interact with strangers like this instead of the people he already know like friends or family such as Daisuke on Bistro La Salle, filled mostly with girls). He's completely isolated from the other cast here. Kagami's job isn't necessarily about caregiver role, police is more about enforcing rules (and being strict) but Kagami makes full use of it to give the caring for the children as they happen to walk over a crossroad, which Kagami takes a part in.

Because actor problem in real life again, like Hiyori and Daisuke's, Yusuke Yamamoto has an issue with the agency team. He also was tested positive for coronavirus in July 2020, but he had been cured.

I think Kusakabe wanted his revenge to be his last act since it was the only thing motivating him. After being abandoned by Hiyori, there was nothing left in the world to give him a reason to stay and that's why he decided to entrust the world and Hiyori to Tendo. It's like the opposite of a human living on in a Worm, with Kusakabe choosing to live on in Tendo who could have the future he was denied.

Don't forget the added flavor that comes from eating it under a bridge!

It's a pretty consistent problem in the second half of Kabuto, but it definitely stings here. To have Clock Up not enter into the final fight at all... it adds to this feeling of Did You All Forget What Show You Were Making that I kept coming back to over the final three episodes.

I really liked that Kagami was too dedicated to his job of protecting children to be able to hang out with everyone. (Although, my headcanon is that he was the one who called for Hiyori's lunch special. Maybe he'll finally get to taste that mackerel!!!) It shows him elevating his job into his identity, which is such a Kamen Rider thing to do, you know? Him protecting people, it's never just because he had a Zecter. He had a Zecter because he couldn't stop protecting people. Of every Rider in the cast, he was the one who always believed in people. I think that's a much sweeter note to end him on than getting teased by his friends or whatever.

I think my absolute favorite part about the lack of Clock Up in the finale is when Kagami insists on leaving Dark Kabuto behind as they make their dramatic escape as though they don't have enough time before everything explodes. While Kabuto is in Hyper Form.

I feel like Kagami remembers that Clock Up is a thing, and that Hyper Clock Up is also a thing, but he's torn between That Guy Totally Sucks and My Life Can Barely Withstand One Tendou. I think Kagami's letting Dark Kabuto burn to save his own sanity.

I do have to add that, yeah, for me the horn -makes- Kabuto. Admittedly for me american-styled superheroes have never been a massive part of my childhood, and in my life in general I only ever had a brief fixation on the MCU... and instead my aesthetics I think were mostly informed by things like Transformers. I think I've just always liked that robotic look to some degree, so Kabuto and Riders in general are just awesome to me when they have this kind of thing. Funny thing is, that whole preference for "when it looks more like a head and there's a small thing stuck on"? I'm realising that kinda sums up my top favourite main rider designs! Den-O, Kuuga, Build; and my absolute favourite Ghost all fit that description.

Best part though? ... I find Kabuto's body design to be a lot weaker and is why I go back and forth so much on how much I like Kabuto's design in general. The head is perfection in my eyes, but the body I'm always hovering between "nice and sleek; fantastic simplicity" and "this is kinda meh". I think it's probably those lines on the black parts of the legs? It's hard to argue against them because at this point I've just internalised them as a core part of the Kabuto Riders' aesthetic, but I do wonder if I'd like the Kabuto design more if those lines just weren't there and hence there were less strange details in the way of his nigh-perfect simplicity. I've got a lot of thoughts on the topic of lines on riders' legs!

Though I guess now I'm gonna look like a hypocrite, because while I agree about not being too impressed by 'masked' Hyper Kabuto aside from the head and wings... dude, that's all you need! It's like saying the Gokaigers only really stick out as designs because of their fantastic helmet design, but at some point, yeah; that does just make the design and you need little more than that! Hyper Kabuto's recently grown on me a LOT just through the strength of its most prominent elements.

I will always hate the grey lines on Kabuto's wrists and ankles, because I did the Figure-Rise kit before I watched the show and getting those goddamn stickers to look right was a nightmare I still have not recovered from.

So basically Kagami decided to sentence Dark Kabuto to death then? Man, that really is just like, the move, for this last stretch of the series. :lol

To be fair to myself, that is another one of those statements I immediately started questioning in my head as soon as I made it. Hyper Form is cool, to be sure!

Just wanna drop in and post some miscellaneous stuff.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-0FpfU...jpg&name=large

Apparantly Zecters eats special Zect Jeely thats poisiness to people.


And Kagami has 3 jobs apparantly
https://www.reddit.com/r/KamenRider/...part_1_subbed/

Tendo what your problem?

https://www.reddit.com/r/KamenRider/...part_2_subbed/

Poor Kagami...

https://www.reddit.com/r/KamenRider/...housedon_part/

And the struggles of a waiter
https://www.reddit.com/r/KamenRider/...housedon_part/

Oh! I don't mean those grey lines, I'm pretty fine with those (though I'm sure I won't be once I get FRS Kabuto). I meant this stuff

https://i.imgur.com/8MNySDv.png

It's just a bit, like... not overdetailed, but it feels sort of unnecessary? Just making the design slightly messier than it needs to be.