Indeed, even in Den-O, Momotauros would have happily done the whole grant a wish to go back in time and destroy things bit if he hadn't accidentally chosen a Singularity Point who refused to actually make a wish. Momo becomes I hero, I hardly thing that is a spoiler, but he isn't even one of those exceptions at first. Kintaros is the only one so far and those watching for the first time don't know if he's the only one or not.

Den O is different because it shows circumstances turning bad monsters to the right side, but they still follow the same monsters are bad and need to be sploded rule as the other shows.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 16 - “LUCKY STAR, LAWBREAKER’S SURRENDER”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den16a.png

What a fantastically stupid episode of television.

I loved this so much, and it’s down to how sublimely idiotic it was. It ends with the reveal that the cops were there for a hostage situation that was happening next door to the bathhouse, and no one inside was ever in any trouble, which is the best You Idiots Are Doing This To Yourself ending possible for an episode that could best be summed with You Idiots Are Doing This To Yourself.

Like, the monster in this basically just pushes people over? The fact that it completes its contract by shoving a drinks cart operator and just goes Mission Accomplished is exquisite. It is my favorite gag in a story overflowing with great gags, and then it maybe tops itself by having the monster go back a few years to push over people in a park. That's how it chooses to destroy the past. It is the dumbest idea, and the fact that it doesn’t feel out of sync with this story is maybe the greatest compliment I can pay it.

(Honestly, my favorite gag might be the fact that Hana doesn’t appear in any of the hostage scenes, which I’m inferring as her getting bored playing hostage and just heading back to the Denliner, like the hostage situation was a party that got dull. But since I’m only inferring that, I can’t really count it as a gag. Sorry, Hana! I appreciate the effort, though!)

That the contract monster is let loose by a drunk who threw away the money that he accused Hakamada of stealing, and that somehow a company found that money and, like, held onto it for a few years… what?! Insane. Insane to have this story be, like, the comedic version of Yonemura’s pointlessly dramatic story from 11/12. But this time, it totally works? I mean, it works because the president is like Holy Shit I Have A Huge Drinking Problem And It’s Destroying My Life, and the pointlessness of this plot kind of is the point? It’s a screwball comedy, and that requires a blisteringly dumb series of decisions to put its plot into motion. It's a story all about how we can be our own worst enemies (it's a series theme!), and about how difficult it can be to face up to our mistakes, but how liberating it can feel when we finally do. Having the missing money be because one guy drunkenly flung it off a bridge and then immediately forgot about… working as intended!

Just a perfect, perfect episode for stupidity. It’s all so gleefully dumb that I ate it right the hell up. Nothing in here mattered, it’s all about people doing stupid things and then trying to atone for that stupidity, and no one really gets hurt.

I mean, a couple people got shoved, but they’re overserving a drunk and they maybe deserved at least a bit of a shove. I am not as forgiving as Airi and Ryotaro!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den16b.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Hilariously, I think the best fight in this episode was the RyuRyoTaros and Momo fight? The nighttime finale was neat for the nighttime of it all, but the whole gimmick was that the monster sucked. The struggle to defuse Ryutaros was way more fraught, and way likelier to end in a homicide than some sluggish fish imagination monster from the end of time who pushes people over. Ryutaros was 1000% going to murder that guy, and it took Ryotaro's cleverness, Momo’s indomitable will, and Airi’s willingness to tell her brother in the bathroom to STOP. God only knows what she thought she was telling him to--

https://media.giphy.com/media/BA8Fly9RBEuIM/giphy.gif

--oh, never mind. She’s a very kind sister!

I'm not sure why, but Airi saying "Ya - me - te" is one of the clearest memories I've always had of this show. Just a moment that stuck with me for no apparent reason.

But yes, this is a great finale to a ridiculously fun arc. The final punchline that the real hostage situation was next door is just a brilliant cap on the whole story.

Next episode features probably my favorite guest star of the season, so I'm looking forward to that one.

and yeah this is the episode where Ryutaros uses the power of dance to disperse the cops and onlookers to the hostage situation

It's dumb and comedic but a difficult situation yeah. The cops were actually arresting another suspect, but everyone is caught up on a police suspect. It's all the biker thief's fault, dragging from Ryotaro, to Hakamada, to Hana, to Airi there. Hakamada and the bike thief seems to turn themselves in at the end, although if they're redeemed, that's not exactly necessary (sentences are used so that the convict may redeem).

Aside from stupidity, what a dangerous position to have, that the president can be drunk, and overspent, and also unknowingly think that Hakamada is the one that is at fault. I mean, if you get a high position, even if you're the one doing something bad, it can be your subordinates that took the fall! The president's wish is to help with that drinking habit for that, which of course, in Imagin fashion is done in monster attack. As I said before, Ryotaro here becomes the one who is going on the Rider stuff here, even being the one who checked the date of where the Imagin was going and asked if the contract holder remembers the event in that day.

Not as forgiving for someone who did moral mistake for once here? (overserving) I thought you'd want for stories to give graces for those kind of people, like something written by Inoue, and take a shit on people who're annoying and lowlife, even if they didn't (or never) do something as bad as those who overserved the drunk. Which while those who did mistake should be treated as person who need help, kinda irrational view for this.

Yeah, Momo's fight over Ryutaros is a blast to watch here, Ryutaros is probably currently the most lacking in moral between the 4 taros, resorting to kill for any problem, not only to monster, but also to those who gets in his way. Momo struggling to get into Ryu using his whole body, but resolved the situation by using only his hand to possess Ryotaro (so the mechanic of the Imagin is that they can focus on a hand) to get her to call. Well, for one thing, actually like Ozaki and Miura.... Ryutaros is also one of the Airimirers a.k.a Airi simp! He'll obey what Airi tells him.

And well, Airi being very kind is about her defusing the situation between the accused criminals there, more than her tending Ryotaro again here (already done before like tending on his back). I mean like before, to me morality is more judged by what will you do to people that is less related to them, caring about friends and/or family won't necessarily cut it (if they would care, apathetic, or cruel to others; overall), but treating strangers like that, especially people who are likely criminals like Hakamada and the bike thief....

It's a great line reading.

Yup!

I got my lines! I'm not a sweet toku hero or his saintly sister! And, I'm not saying these folks deserve to get murdered, just pushed over. They're probably more confused than anything.

Oh, man, Ryutaros is an Airimirer.

Least favorite Imagin.

Ruytaros is more of a clingy younger brother who wants to be told good job while getting head pats than a simp.

...And say goodbye to Yonemura for a bit! I don't know what the heck got into Kobayashi that particular year, but she wrote the entire rest of Den-O on TV herself, and most of the movies, which is pretty crazy even by her standards. She usually writes the majority of her shows anyway, but between the measly four episodes not by her, and the fact that she apparently still felt the need to personally punch up the dialogue on them, I get the feeling she really liked working on Den-O in particular? Seems like a particularly fun bunch of characters to write, to be fair!

16 is definitely a high note for Yonemura to leave on for now, though. I don't have much to say about it that I didn't say about the first part (this is peak raw comedy Den-O), but this is another one with a tricky title that I'm going to do a terrible job trying to explain, so this should be... fun!?

The joke is that both halves are actually pronounced completely identically, with the title in Japanese being "Koufuku no Hoshi, Koufuku no Hoshi".

There are two totally separate words in Japanese pronounced koufuku, one (降伏) which means "surrender", and one (幸福) which very broadly means "happiness", but "lucky" fits the context here better and even lets the translated title preserve a bit of the gag through alliteration. Japanese is kinda infamous for having loads of homophones like this – if you remember the whole "I'm glad to die" line from the penultimate episode of Kabuto, that was actually a translation error caused by somebody getting these exact words mixed up! I just didn't have the heart to tell you at the time because it made for such a good screencap. :p

Hoshi is the part where they're pretty much cheating though? It means "star" (星), while "lawbreaker" (犯人) is ordinarily hannin. This is the kind of thing Sunred or someone could probably explain WAY better, but basically there's this thing called furigana, where phonetic kana characters are placed above kanji to tell the reader how they're supposed to be pronounced. This is most commonly used in books for children, who won't be familiar with how to correctly read a huge variety of kanji, but cheeky writers and lyricists and such love to use it to specify a thing is deliberately read incorrectly for any number of artistic reasons. This isn't the last time Den-O will do this, either.

And going on with furigana when it is used in more teen and adult oriented it tends to be used in creative ways for example the fate series writes the name of the servants special attacks in furigana while the fancy title will be in Kanji, for example Excaliber’s written in furigana above the full title of the blade “Golden Sword of Promised Victory”

Ryutaros is forming a parasocial bond with a woman who literally doesn't know he exists. He is basing his morality around what she'd think of him, and she does not think of him. I think he might actually be worse than the Airimirers? At least Airi's aware of those dudes!

Yeah, and it's so tricky to get the balance right (Yonemura's two stories definitely hit the opposing ends of the spectrum) that I can see her wanting to take more control just to make sure that no one botches it. If you've got to rewrite the dialogue, you might as well write the plot, too!

I thought I saw Translation Cop hanging around in the flash mob that danced away from the bathhouse! Happy to see that exemplar of explainers back on the beat.

So about the chest armor for Den-O. If you look closely, you will notice that it is basically the same armor just shuffled around depending on form. If we have Sword Form as the basis, you will notice that:
1. Rod Form's chest armor is basically Sword Form's chest armor turned 180 degrees with the back part of Sword Form's chest armor acting as shoulder pads
2. Axe Form takes those shoulder pads and brings them up front as the front part of the chest armor
3. Gun Form is basically Sword Form's front chest area opened up to reveal the dragon claws holding cintamani orbs in each claw(these same orbs are what inspired the Dragon Balls in the manga/animation Dragon Ball)

Neat! Thanks!

Unfortunately, my career as a meme educator hit a roadblock when it turned out no other Rider show has anywhere near as many prolific dumb jokes attached to it as Blade does. :lol

Ryutaros is one messed up kid! ...Which is exactly why I honestly think this was a really smart character trait to give him! Ryuta's basically a bundle of every possible extremely unhealthy personality quirk a child can have, so an obsessive parasocial relationship with someone who he sees as sort of filling the void where a parental figure is supposed to be fits right in with that perfectly.

It's also pretty creepy, admittedly! But there's a specificity to how Ryutaros' character is constructed that's key to why I like him as much as I do. He might've been a simple novelty that quickly grew old for me without stuff like this.

v-cinema where ryutaros teams up with grease when tho

Yeah, I'm not really mad at how Ryutaros is portrayed, honestly? (I wonder if talking about this instead of writing up the episode I just watched is going to make me forget everything from 17? We'll see!) Currently, he's shown to be somewhere between A Little Stinker and An Amoral Psychopath... much like all children. He's unpredictable, even for a show full of self-involved imagination monsters from the end of time. There's a feeling of him running wild when he possesses Ryotaro that eclipses some of the monster threats.

And yet!

There're these undeniable empathy points for him, with Airi and with animals. A thing where he's not aware of relationships being two-way things, with mutual respect. Caring for Airi is like caring for an animal, or wanting to keep that animal safe. Ryutaros doesn't think about what the animal wants, he creates a story about the animal that flatters him, and then acts to keep that story going. Airi's just another thing he can care for, another thing that can help him define himself. The idea of what Airi wants as a person isn't really important. Making Airi Happy as a concept is valuable to Ryutaros, because of how he can use that to feel better about himself. Actually engaging with Airi is almost beside the point.

So, yeah, leveraging that childlike My Friend From YouTube or whatever, I don't dislike that!

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 17 - "THAT GUY IS HERE! AND IN THE PAST!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den17a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den17b.png

Well, I just wrote a couple paragraphs about Ryutaros' Airi fandom, and now I can't remember what I was going to say about this episode.

There're really two things going on in this episode, and they didn't really connect for me yet. (I assume I'll feel differently by the conclusion.) There's this bonkers story about the Imagin thinking they're about to get fired for incredibly vague, possibly Hana-invented reasons (it's pretty much a game of Telephone where Ryotato says Things Should Change and Hana goes Ryotaro Demands An Imagin Battle Royale), and then there's this bleaker story about lives deferred, and about the seductive poison of nostalgia.

I liked both stories, even if they felt like they were from entirely different episodes. It's not tonal whiplash exactly, but there was definitely a non-zero amount of tonal dissonance as we'd switch from Sawada feeling like she gave up a past she adored for a present she loathes, to Momo and Kin breaking Milk Dipper in an attempt to prove their worth. Those are... those are very different feelings that are being evoked! Tough to do those back to back!

That uneasy bedfellow thing aside, it's a pretty compelling episode. I think it's more effective in its drama than it is in its comedy, though. Sawada's return to Japan lets us learn more about Ryotaro's past, and about how low-level miserable he really is.

Ryotaro... not the easiest title character to love, if I'm being honest? He's sweet, and funny, but he's so shrinking and quiet that it's hard to really root for him. Or, I don't know, I find myself way more excited about seeing an Imagin possess him than I am him whispering his way through a scene. He's constantly getting overshadowed by bigger personalities, and now we've reached the point of him almost dying because he can't get the four Imagins he's entangled with to stop running him ragged. He's pushed around a lot, and it's hard to really get what's driving him.

So, an episode that starts to peel back his layers is enormously welcome. To see him less as a perennial punching bag and more as someone who has made difficult, unhappy choices to protect the people he loves, to see a side of Ryotaro that is willing to say I Deserve Better Than This, yes. Very ready for that story. We're only scratching the surface of that here, but it feels like the show is setting up Ryotaro to be at least a smidgen more assertive.

And I think the Imagin feel it, too, since they are pretty sure someone's going to get kicked off the DenLiner for Ryotaro's sake, and they're pretty pretty sure it's going to be Momotaros.

Which, fun story, even if there's no way it would ever be Momo. (Ryutaros first, then Urataros, then Kintaros, then Momotaros.) The story needs it to look like it's going to be Momo, though, because he has the least amount of chill, and the story's ten times better if it's him freaking out over his job security. For a character that's usually almost no help outside a fight, Momo somehow becomes even less helpful the more he struggles to be helpful. It is like his effort to be of use generates anti-useful particles, sabotaging everything around him. Every minute he tries to spotlight his value is another minute on the highlight reel of why he should be expelled from the train. He is failing at a superhuman level, and it's terrific.

Fun episode for watching the Imagin battle to establish their competence, and for watching young adults regret growing up.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den17c.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Sawada's... I mean, she's a great way into Ryotaro's story, to have someone who's even worse at hiding their pain than he is, but I found her a little too on the nose. Like, she says "nostalgia" a lot, and she's doing nothing but reminiscing about her high school days. She is a little one-note. She plays that note well, though, so it's not a failure or anything. She just feels more like a plot device than a character right now.

-Speaking of plot devices who are not yet characters! Pocketwatchman makes a sort-of-kind-of non-cameo appearance, an episode or so before he's actually cast. It's one of the Rider mysteries that I don't hate, but I am not willing to expend a single ounce of brain-power on theorizing. I feel like they'll tell me something important in an episode or two, and then I'll be interested. Until then, he's here! And he's backlit by the sun! And he may or may not have a mysterious connection to Airi! I don't really care yet!

So with all the Imagin gathered and established it's finally time to move on and start looking at exactly what's up with that weird dude in the past who's wearing a baseball cap under his fisherman's hat. There'll be more on that in the next episode that will tie into the show's most controversial casting decision (at the time). That's a Wednesday or maybe Thursday conversation, though.

Right now I'm going to potentially step on Androzani's toes a bit. Not about voice actors, but about the episode's main human guest star. Sawada is played by an actress/singer named Hikari Mitsushima. She's been pretty successful and has done some high profile projects and won several awards, but the reason I want to highlight her is from something she did before this guest spot on Den-O. Back in 2005 she was one of the main characters in one of my favorite tokusatsu shows ever: Ultraman Max.*

Mitsushima played Elly, the quirky android girl that served as the operations officer for the kaiju fighting organization DASH. She was basically like Data from Star Trek TNG, only she managed to gradually form an understanding of emotions over the course of the series. A lot of the show's best moments involved Elly and it's really great to see the actress show up again here.

A nice collection of great Elly moments, courtesy of some random Tumblr page I just found via Google: https://the-evil-pizza.tumblr.com/po...character-elly


*2005 was a ridiculously strong year for toku, with Max, Hibiki, and Garo all debuting that year.

The ending theme Double Action as we know has multiple iterations, and each is a different genre. The default Sword Form mix is a eurobeat track, Rod Form mix is ska, Axe Form mix is enka(a traditional style Japanese pop genre), and Gun Form mix is hip-hop(officially it is considered "hip-hop" but honestly it is more nu-metal from the sound of it).

Neat! Thanks!

Okay, couple quick points to add having rewatched the episode.

The show's continuity with Hana's clothing is really bad. Every time she travels to or from the Denliner she's wearing a different outfit. I get the realities of studio vs. location filming, but they're not even trying here.

I'm going to start doing this next bit just to satisfy my own curiosity/to amuse myself.

Stargazing Snuggle Count: 3 (including twice in this episode alone)

Don’t worry, I’m off the face actors wagon for this thread. I’ve merely been finding loopholes.

And now for our VA of the week, whose anime list was so long I half considered cutting it down.

Nobuyuki Hiyama

Notable Anime roles: Hiei in Yu Yu Hakusho, Maito Senpuuji in The Brave Express Might Gaine, Ikkaku Madarame in Bleach, Guy Shishioh in King of the Braves GaoGaiGar. Joe Higashi in Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Pedro Kazmaier in Jungle King Tar-chan, Rai Ryuga in Ginga Sengoku Ryū Knight, Yuushiro Gowa in Gasaraki, Ichimonji Kobayashi in Cheeky Angel, Harunobu Madarame in Genshiken, Kogoro in Keroro Gunsō, Jetfire in Transformers Energon, Kankuro Nishiyama in Muteki Kanban Musume, Kōyū Ri in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Yoshimune in Yoshimune, Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, Hirohiko Yokomi in Tetsuko no Tabi, Kojuurou in Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, Kōki Maeno in Mnemosyne, Ichirō Toba in Double-J, Ultimate-Kingtaurus in Battle Spirits: Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero, Uzu Sanageyama in Kill La Kill, Yoshiteru Zaimokuza in My Youth Love Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Sasaki Kojirou in Duel Masters VS, Seiichi Kinoshita in Shirobako, General Goro in Yatterman Night, Gao Granner Leo in Tomica Kizuna Gattai Earth Granner.

Notable Tokusatsu roles: Boss Kamikaze in Gosei Sentai Dairanger, Bomber the Great in Choriki Sentai Ohranger, Gun Boss Sambash in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Camejil Alien Ben-G in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Hades Beast,an Berserker King Glúm de Bridon in Mahou Sentai Magiranger: Bride of Infershia, the Narrator and Tachibana in Kamen Rider Fourze, Ultraman King and the Geed Riser in Ultraman Geed.

Notable Dubbing roles: Rampage in Beast Wars, Barry Allen/The Flash in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Blue Falcon in Scoob!

Notable Video Game roles: Link in The Legend of Zelda: Occarina of Time (and the Super Smash Bros series), Joe Higashi in the Fatal Fury series, Siegfried Schtauffen in the Soul Caliber series.

I will mention that this will be the bulk of my comments for this week, since my own thread is busier than usual (I chose this week to do BOTH of Hurricaneger’s movies, in addition to the usual 3 episodes).

Do you mind if I add to the Ryutaros discussion? Not that I can hear your answer!

Ryutaros is basically a kid, so I think his love of Airi is more innocent and familial than Miura and Ozaki and even Urataros with his infamous "she's too good to just be your sister" line. The important thing to remember is that Ryutaros is an Imagin which can be a lonely existence. He was born without anything resembling a family of his own so he wants to experience that through Ryoutarou.

Actually, this is something I can relate to, since I don't have a big sister either. It reminds me of a story written by Inoue in Ohranger where the siblingless Oh Blue/Yuji tried to make two brothers stop fighting with each other and that episode made Yuji my favorite member of the team. This is probably another reason why Ryutaros is one of my favorite Imagins, in addition to him being purple and cheerful.

Ryutaros' love of Airi is also a catalyst for his development towards becoming more heroic and tame, by looking up to Airi as a big sister and role model for how he should behave. This isn't like those other guys who are just lusting for her without thinking about what Airi wants. Ryutaros' care is more genuine and from the heart.

Seeing a KR protagonist be like "I deserve better than this" is definitely uncommon so early in the show.

Regarding which Imagin is the weakest link, I'd say Urataros might be more of a liability than Ryutaros. He seldom fights unless it's near water and he causes a lot of complicated romantic problems for Ryoutarou.

I can see how Momotaros might be secretly worried about being replaced by all these newer younger Imagins, but yeah, there's no way Ryoutarou is going to throw him under the train (haha, get it?). Those two have a lot of sentimental value.

I think she just likes changing her clothes? I could definitely headcanon it as Hana thinking her train outfit is too conspicuous, so she puts on "normal clothes" (including an outfit that would only blend in if they needed to save Jimi Hendrix from an imagination monster from the end of time) when she's running around Tokyo.

That said, I way prefer her train outfit. It's a good look!

Neat! Thanks!

At this point in the show, I guess I'd argue with the last line? His affection for Airi is still unhealthy, being that he treats her like a sister when she doesn't even know he exists. There's no reciprocity to their relationship, and that means that Ryutaros' care is more selfish than not. It's him caring for a character in his story, not a real woman with an interior life. He's obsessed with Airi, and even if it's not in a sexual way, it's still not great.

I'd probably put Ryutaros and Urataros neck-and-neck as far as who is the least helpful. Depending on the particular scene, either one of them could be the biggest drawback to Ryotaro's goals. But, Ura has at least some marginal use (investigation, subterfuge) that Ryu lacks. It's a close one, though! Definitely some variables that can change in a heartbeat!

For sure, his affection is misdirected and destructive, but it still comes from a good place. Ryutaros wants recognition and a place to belong, just like how Momotaros wants respect. He's going the wrong way about it and deluding himself but honestly that just makes me pity him more. I think he just needs someone to care about him openly to make him less troubled.

There's also the factor that Urataros is, by his own admission, totally untrustworthy. At least Ryutaros has the courtesy to tell you if he intends to murder you! :p

Conversely, Urataros is admitting that he's untrustworthy, while Ryutaros lulls you in with his childlike naivete. It's really a push between these two!

Discovered just now that Naomi’s costume was designed to be decorated with random numbers. Have to wonder why they changed that.

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

Odds are the material didn’t play well with ot or it didn’t look good when made i to a physical costume

Hana's looking for any excuses to get rid of the Imagin, though for this one, the reason is plausible so far, Ryotaro getting too tired for likely being possessed by 4 imagins at once. Well, as super powered as Hana is, the Owner has the highest authority in the DenLiner, though the Owner also has attempted to kick out an Imagin like Kintaros.

Ryotaro's main draw from what I read is about his comically bad luck moments. Though yeah, for him being shrinking, quiet, and pushed around, I've talked with someone who does dislike him due to that (and they're those who like other saintly main Riders like Yusuke). Takeru Satoh's main draw as an actor is about how he can portray Ryotaro and all of his Imagin possession differently, but I wouldn't want for people to view "bigger personality" as having more negative traits (Ryotaro vs Imagin possession claim here). And as I said before in the episode review, I think Ryotaro's evolution is overlooked, that he now takes the charge of the Imagin hunting, like him going to investigate or him being the (only) one who scans the Rider Card into the contract holder. And of course Ryotaro will develop later regarding Rider stuff, but I wouldn't want for the development to be about him becoming more negative person (because I want to let it be known that development isn't only about that) or being assertive meaning becoming more selfish or something (I deserve better than this signs that). Ryotaro being presented with difficult choice do make for an interesting dilemma. And for the school part, he still wasn't the best man there, as someone who dropped out from the school. It's unknown for the reasons at this episode but I wonder if this is about another bad luck or self-inflicted, as I know about another loser character who has bad luck, and constantly getting abysmal marks on school.

Kintaros screwing up again with his strength, making coffee with brute force and end up ruining the tools with his strength, and Urataros claiming to be the most useful in Ryotaro's daily life as he can amass harem for Ryotaro. Momotaros has something lacking compared to other Imagins, like intelligence to Urataros, and moral to Kintaros.

Well, dunno about her character quality or something here, but probably Sawada is another one who can converse normally with Ryotaro, without . I don't want everyone to be made of having petty squabbles for "more conflict" (yeah, fighting against Naomi's view of living beings), or be turned jerk (albeit Sawada being based on nostalgia filter can result in likely jerk traits to bring up about nostalgia stuff) just to have those conflicts (and Kintaros mostly doesn't respond aggressively to the others, good thing yeah, but the other 3 would inveitably pick fights and includes Kintaros)

Passion! Momo's the passionate one!

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 18 - "THE CLOCKWORK FIANCE"

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https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den18b.png

So, I liked the idea behind the episode, where it ended, but I was not at all into how we got there.

Like, at the end, this is a story about people bravely taking on the burdens of others without telling them, and how colossally stupid that is. It's an episode that shows through Ryotaro and the Imagin that killing yourself to save others from hardship is just creating a situation that's bad for everyone. Ryotaro doing all of this dumb training to be of more use to the Imagin has nearly gotten them to kill themselves, and that in turn would've left Ryotaro at a disadvantage/crippled him with guilt. Everyone's making sacrifices that only make things worse. It's "The Gift of the Imagin", basically.

So, that concept, I do like it. The fight scene in this one is the most memorable part, because it's Momotaros feeling justifiably let down by Ryotaro, and just stopping the fight dead to lay down some scolding on Ryotaro. Momo is, for all of his flaws, a straight-shooter, and he's not happy with all of the secrets Ryotaro is keeping. Having the Airi stuff and the Den-O stuff collide in a thematic lesson from Momotaros is brilliant, and it makes me wish the episode's path to that speech was better.

Because, goddamn, a bunch of fat on this one. Sawada, for one, feels somewhere between a massive red herring and a missed opportunity. Her story is disappointingly simple, with her feeling overburdened and homesick, and then Airi gives her a pep-talk, story's over. The whole point of the scene with Airi ends up not even really being about Sawada (who has recovered astonishingly well after being assaulted by a monster who disappeared into her body), but instead it's just more of a push to get Ryotaro to stop coddling Airi and tell her the truth. Sawada barely feels like she's a part of this story in the second part, which is way more concerned with Airi's tragic backstory.

Which, man, not a huge fan! Two of my least favorite toku tropes are Narratively Convenient Amnesia and We Can't Tell A Woman The Truth For Reasons, so imagine how thrilled I was to hit the midpoint of this one. The directing is selling Airi's tragic backstory for all it's worth, and it sincerely hurts to see Airi so devastated, but I'm just zero percent into this story. This is completely subjective, but the foundation of this thing is just rotten to me. So rotten that it's almost preemptively spoiling the appearance of Zeronos (I recognize the toy from his train pass, plus Hello Kyosuke From Hibiki), because I'm not going to love hearing this dude explain why We Can't Tell Airi The Truth For Reasons. I hope that's not where they're going! I wish with all my might that Kobayashi is smarter/braver/stronger than that! But I got my fears.

So, yeah. Fun ending, with this being a story about folks needing to stop keeping destructive secrets and start letting people in, but the nostalgia theme never really came through for me (it doesn't really feel pertinent to anything other than Airi's memories?) and Sawada didn't really get enough focus. Love that fight scene, pretty disinterested in the rest of this one.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den18c.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-I almost can't wrap my brain around this, but the whole thing about the Imagin (no idea what he's supposed to be) that's just totally artistically blocked in 2004, just looking at this blank canvas of a city and stumped about what he's supposed to do to level it, I loved that. It feels like the production team couldn't figure out a reason why the Imagin doesn't just blow up 2004 after escaping from Den-O in the previous episode, and they definitely need him to hold off so that they can do all of their Airi exposition, so the team just seems to have gone Maybe He's Drawing A Blank Too. It's such a weirdly human response, and it totally worked for me. I love the banality of it, how this monster looks at destroying the past like it's confusing instructions for Ikea furniture. I am all about monsters who are not great at their jobs, so this Imagin was a bright spot for me in the first half of this episode.

-Zeronos! Real interested to see what Sakurai's like, and how much my (incredibly recent!) memories of Kyosuke color his introduction. For a show that's all about trying to reconcile the mistakes of the past with hope for the future, having everyone's favorite Hibiki character from everyone's favorite Hibiki era show up... very thematically appropriate! Great meta casting!

Not a ton to say about this one. Its main purpose is to be the exposition dump on Sakurai, which in turn sets up the introduction of Zeronos. There are some nice bits - Momo's apathetic fight, Kin asking Ryotaro to make a wish, Elly from Ultraman Max is still hanging around a bit - but it's not the most exciting or dynamic episode.

Keep this part in mind. It will come up again later.

From what I've heard this was not a popular casting choice in Japan at the time. We'll see what your thoughts are as we get into Yuuto's run on the show.

The important thing is that, with Yuuto here, you're finally going to get to see the real MVP of Kamen Rider Den-O. I'm excited for him to be here as I am for you to meet him.

The Imagin is meant to be a wolf. As in, the big bad Wolf.

Yeah, I mostly remember this as “the one where the Gate was perfunctory, rather than vital”.

And yes, Kiriya tadaima sanjoh. I distinctly remember a certain someone mentioning Sakurai briefly in the Hibiki thread, to which someone else responded by stating his opinion on the actor’s two roles was the opposite of the common one (namely, that Kiriya is the worst of the two).

Speaking of vague memories of your past threads, my thread will be covering an episode that not only aired around the same time as a Ryuki episode (I think) you called your favourite (it might’ve been the one after it. Either way, Fish Sandwich was dumbfounded) and has a similar plot (various males all end up inadvertently in romantic involvement with the same woman).

It's a pretty good gag, all of the Imagin trying to get Ryotaro to make a wish so that they can sacrifice themselves. Kin's whole Your Wish Is For Me To Wait A Minute thing was adorable, and Momo's sputtering rage at Kin stealing his idea to off himself was a great escalation.

I'm psyched!

Like, I'm glad Sawada comes out of this one better than she started, but it's weird how little impact she has on the plot in Part 2. If she'd left for England after the first part, the only thing you'd be missing is the accidental tiny push to get Ryotaro to realize Airi needed to be told the truth. But even that's something that mostly happens in the story without Sawada being involved, since it's Momo who outright tells Ryotaro what he needs to do.

Just so weird to have a childhood friend come back and mostly have her be tangential to the resolution of the story.

If it's the Ryuki episode where Kitaoka does a silent Henshin and dives into a river, yes, probably my favorite Ryuki story. Inoue Forever!

Sorry, just asking for what causes the lack of response?

Yeah the concept is nice, for Ryotaro knowing that his body can be too much of a burden to contain the Imagins, and by that he trains himself to become stronger to endure that. I think all the predicament between the Imagin, and Ryotaro for this part, is again fabricated by Hana, who just wants an excuse to kick out the Imagins, which, while plausible, this time's it's not on them, albeit Ryotaro didn't tell them about what he's actually doing (though mainly due to him not being aware of the conflict between Hana and Imagin, and each Imagin). The Imagins here just try for Ryotaro to grant his wish so that they can leave Ryotaro's body for (Hana's) good.

Airi's thing is giving pep-talk to others! Like to ep. 7, ep. 15-16, and also here. It mostly is done to male and works wonders due to... ehem... Airimirers ability she has, but it's done on female here, although she's a close relative to the Nogami family. And also, for Sawada recovering well, do you talk about her physically or psychologically after the monster attack? And for those 2 tropes, the amnesia one is like, done on a good number of Rider series, and those which you like too, like Kabuto's Gon? And the keeping the truth part, if you direct that to Kobayashi, it's also an Inoue thing.

Sometimes I don't have anything to contribute! Also, sometimes I have long days! Sorry!

Yeah, but Sawada's exclusion from the action of Part 2 makes this pep-talk feel less integral, and that's on top if it mostly being based around the irony of Airi promoting honesty and the value of memories while blocking out her own past. It's a scene that's really not about Sawada?

I mean a monster appeared before her in her bedroom and then cracked her open like an egg to transport itself into the past, and she shows up at Milk Dipper like nothing ever happened. That is a very weird thing to move on from the next day!

Okay, sure, I'm not perfect.

This is a set of episodes I definitely love more than Die does. Even though there wasn't any break in the airing schedule or anything, I consider it the sort of "season finale" for Den-O, like a lot of Rider shows from Double onwards do around this point in the episode count. I like how it drives the overarching plot forward enough to actually start resembling an overarching plot, and it keeps it all grounded in great character development for both Ryoutarou and Momotaros.

Between these two and episodes 3/4, I have a theory that it's a particularly good arc of Den-O whenever Plat Form gets significant screentime. Which isn't saying that all good Den-O stories have Plat Form, mind you, but that all Den-O stories with Plat Form are good, no exceptions.

Anyway, while it's nothing compared to how whimsical some of the others get, I will note that the title for 18 writes "fiance" in kanji as konyakusha, only to tell the reader right above that it's supposed to be said in English for some reason. Maybe for no reason? It's hard to tell with this show sometimes!

I feel like I'm, in general, enjoying these episodes less than everyone else. I love the tone, but some of the specific story decisions have felt... undercooked? Just stuff where I feel content to watch it, but it falls apart the more I think about it. I don't know. I don't love not loving these shows? Certainly less fun to post That Was Pleasant But Sloppy six times a week.

(Or, I don't know, there have been some fun stories in the nine they've done so far? I feel like I've conveyed that? I am definitely feeling less into DEn-O over the last week, more of a disconnect than I'd've foreseen, but I hope I'm not totally misconstruing whatever I'm getting out of these episodes?)

The Ryotaro/Momotaros stuff from the last story was great, though. Having Momo freaking out in 17 and then being like You Had Me Worrying For Nothing And You Need To Be A Better Partner was a great button on that arc. The evolution of their partnership is really special.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 19 - "THAT MAN, ZERONOSTART”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den19a.png

So, Zeronos.

I was really curious what Yuuto (never know which name a show is going to land on for a character, and this time it's not his family name) was going to be like, how/if he'd be different from what the actor did as Kyosuke on Hibiki. I didn't get a sense of him as having huge range on Hibiki (a little wooden), but it'd have been a year since then. Maybe he was capable of way more than he was given? Maybe Kyosuke wasn't quite in his wheelhouse? Maybe he's got some crazy range?

(Slightly off-topic, but my first exposure to Peter Capaldi as an actor was as Sid's dad on Skins, where he played a meek father; and in Torchwood: Children of Earth, where he played a meek government official. That's just what I thought of as Peter Capaldi Parts, so I was pretty surprised when I saw him in In The Loop, reprising his acclaimed turn as a vulgar, mean-spirited government official; and on Doctor Who, where he played a quick-witted, closed-off hero. That was eye-opening!)

But, no, not really for Yuuto. He's basically What If Kyosuke From Hibiki Became Sasword From Kabuto. It's all of Kyosuke's weird friend-negging from Hibiki, where it's clear that he wants to make a connection but he's dead-set on being a full-time asshole. And it's also all of the Tsurugi/Jiiya stuff from Kabuto, where there's an attempt by a guardian to protect and improve their charge, but with so many insane touches (Deneb candy!) (!!!!!!!!!!!) (?) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that it's unclear if either one of them is capable of surviving this partnership.

The character of Yuuto in the moment, in the scene, it's pretty much just Kyosuke. He's immediately standoffish and insulting to Ryotaro, and he even shows up later specifically to piss him off! He's just a weird, pushy jerk from start to finish, with almost no attempt to create a sympathetic character outside of hints that he's doing all this because he's lonely and too weird to be nice.

So, yeah, loved it.

I was really into Kyosuke on Hibiki (if memory serves) (could be wrong!), so him showing up to do the same shtick on Den-O with Jiiya But An Imagination Monster From The End Of Time in tow, hell yes. That is a mash-up that is Hall of Fame caliber. It's a fun addition to Den-O because, for a human, he's a more present character than we've seen before, no pun intended. Yuuto's someone who is instantly irritating, adding friction to every Ryotaro scene. He's aggressively secretive, and smirking in his opaqueness. He clearly wants to make friends, but seems to consider Emotionally Dominating Them as the key to success. Yuuto's forceful, and that makes him fun to see in a scene with Ryotaro (quiet), Hana (skeptical), and Airi (consistently pleasant). He's... he's all sharp edges, and that's a new development for a show that's mostly been about wacky fun and sitcom disagreements.

If there's a part I dislike to Yuuto, it's how wrapped up his story is in Airi and Sakurai. The show clearly is going someplace with the three of them, where there's some time-loop weirdness to how that relationship plays out, but it's a story that feels destined to be portioned out at a rate I'll be unhappy with. Having not loved the Airi revelations from last time, the weird mix of Yuuto taunting Ryotaro with traumatizing Airi (?) and Ryotaro's shouting at Airi to keep her from discovering Yuuto's identity... not into that part! I'm okay with Yuuto having secrets at this point, but I'm not thrilled with scenes that are just the show being evasive to fill time. It's stuff that could be resolved with a conversation, and I don't love that conversation being avoided for dumb reasons.

(I will always respect Build as a show for taking a big Banjou development and having Sento just blurt it out. The longer you drag out a plot artificially, the more I'm convinced it's not a smart plot!)

But Yuuto's debut episode, I was a fan. I love his weird master/servant relationship with Deneb. I enjoyed him trying to look stoic and then immediately laughing at Ryotaro when the coast was clear. He's just a weird jerk who is desperate to make friends while being terrible at making friends, and I'm looking forward to his inevitable comeuppance -slash- rehabilitation. Either or, I'm not choosy.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den19b.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-This episode was pretty much wall-to-wall Yuuto, but there was a little bit of time for other things. Namely, this story's monster! Not much to him, but I love that in an episode that let the Yuuto parts sprawl comedically, the Jellyfish Imagin was in some huge rush to finish his contract. Great counterpoint to how unhurried the rest of the story was, narratively.

-Amongst his whole Being An Uninterrupted Prick agenda, there were some intriguing looks at how Den-O and Zeronos's missions might differ. Or, maybe it's more how Ryotaro and Yuuto's missions differ? Yuuto tries to make it clear that it's sometimes more important to protect time than it is to protect individual people, which is an outlook that Ryotaro fundamentally doesn't share. Ryotaro's doing all of this as Den-O to make a positive change in individual lives. The idea of only focusing on the broader goal of protecting time itself, that's almost abhorrent to Ryotaro. It makes for an interesting dynamic to explore, where both Riders are being heroic in parallel ways. Like train tracks! Metaphor!

So I thought I’d start with a brief discussion of Deneb. He’s based off a Tengu (a Japanese creature who’s name translates to “heavenly dog”, despite often being depicted as a humanoid crow) and he’s named after a star that I assume is part of a trinity with Altair and Vega (mostly because of how much I see the three used together in fiction).

And no, for the requisite VAs list.

Hōchu Ōtsuka (stage name for Yoshitada Ōtsuka)

Notable Anime roles: Jiraiya in Naruto, Yazan Gable in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Alfred in Batman Ninja

Notable Tokusatsu roles: Signalman in Gekisou Sentai Carranger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Callas in Kamen Rider Battride War, the Narrator in Kamen Rider Gaim, Maja in Kamen Rider Gaim Final Stage.

Notable Dubbing roles: Ultra Magnus in The Transformers, Dr. Ian Malcolm in the Jurassic Park series, Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok, Data in the Star Trek franchise, Doggett in The X-Files, Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, Jim Gordon in Batman Begins, Hades in Clash of the Titans, Joke in The Dark Knight, Piccolo in Dragonball Evolution, General Xaviax in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, James Bond in License to Kill, Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me, Leonardo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, Steven in Arthur Christmas, Warp Darkmatter in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Carlos and Phil in Hop, Kent Mansley in The Iron Giant, Dick Dastardly in Scoob, Alpha in Up.

And for our bad guy of the week

Ryūsei Nakao

Notable Anime roles: Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Bleach, Frieza in Dragon Ball Z, Caesar Clown in One Piece, Noise in Suite Pretty Cure, King in Garo: Vanishing Line.

Notable Tokusatsu roles: Gou Koyuki in Denshi Sentai Denziman (live role), Rain Alien Agent Abrella in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Masakage Tsugomori in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, Alien Nackle in Ultraman Mebius and the Ultraman Brothers.

Notable dubbing roles: Speckles in G-Force, Solomon Lane in the Mission Impossible series, Tramp in the
Andy and the Tramp series, Ling in Mulan, Snowball in The Secret Life of Pets, Ziro the Hutt in Star Wars: The Clone Wars,

So off topic fun fact, I learned this a while back but Nakao and his Dragon Ball castmate Masako Nozawa who voices Goku were both also cast in Golion, the source material for Voltron. Nakao was the Japanese voice for Sven and Nozawa was Pidge. Additionally, Gorisaki from Go-Busters was Hunk, Aigaron from Kyoryuger was Lance, and Genis from Zyuohger was Keith.

The core difference between Yuuto and Kiriya (aside from the fact that Yuuto is on a real show and Kiriya is from the purely fictitious post-cancellation “episodes” of Hibiki) is in the motivations behind their behavior. Kiriya (pretending he exists, for the sake of argument) was a selfish dick who was motivated primarily by his own entitlement. Yuuto, on the other hand, is a nice and caring person; we see that in the glimpses of his future self. He acts like a dick, though, because of his situation and how he chooses to handle it.

Yuuto is a teenager - I’m not sure how old exactly he’s supposed to be, but he’s probably about the same age as Ryotaro. He’s been caught up in the events of the show for reasons we’ll find out later, though, so he’s doing what a lot of teenagers would do in this kind of situation: trying to act like he’s super cool and in complete control of what’s happening. He’s a jerk to Ryotaro because he wants Ryotaro to think that he’s this awesome badass who totally knows what’s going on and who’s way cooler than that Den-O loser. But, as we see with him buying the vest and getting coffee, he’s absolutely still just an immature teenager.

One of the many, many great things about Deneb is that he not only completely ignores all of Yuuto’s bluster, but simultaneously calls him out on it while apologizing for it. I hadn’t made the Jiiya/Tsurugi connection before (probably because, like I’ve said before, Kabuto did not stick in my long term memory), but it’s very much that kind of dynamic. The core difference is that Deneb tries to compensate for Yuuto’s worst impulses instead of enabling them.