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Kamen Rider 4 special

Wow, this was good. SHT GP was fine, but not great. This was an unexpected surprise going in, and I wish more crossovers were like this, focusing on a band of a few characters from different shows and one thing that is trying to be accomplished.

First of all, I love the basic premise of the repeating time loop, makes for a very simple yet effective story I don't think has been done in Rider before. (I haven't seen Den-O so correct me on that if they have done it.) Takumi and Yuuto's prescene here was defintley worth it for their actors coming back (especially Takumi). I wish the staff could have gotten Tachibana's actor in this since I would have loved to see him interact with everyone else, but I feel like he might have distracted from the plot of this very tight knit story or just had no role.

Kamen Rider 4 was an awesome design for a Rider, being based on pilots, even having a little radio earpiece, alongside the Zyuranger eske mouth going on.

I felt like this special was fantastic closure for Takumi regarding Faiz. We get to see Kaidou again, a huge surprise for me, we get to see Takumi chilling on the same hill that he was at the end of the show (they even show that clip). And all Takumi wants is the sweet release of death. I guess going based off Igadevil's headcanon about Kamen Rider Taisen, that Mari, Keitaro and others have moved on, yeah Takumi is kind of lonely and has no purpose. His ending was a nice resolution for his character, and his actor did a good job of setting this end up the past 2 movies. Since Kiba can't come back, Kusaka's dead and so is Takumi, I guess the only way they can wrap up the plot thread of the Orphenoch king is by bring Mihara back to become Delta. Ex-Aid Taisen movie maybe?

I was sort of getting confused when Takumi was talking about getting revived whether they meant when he became an Orphenoch or he somehow died and got revived from the end of the show until now. I think it was the former.

It wasn't super clear if Kaido was working with Shocker or not and if it was just a means of keeping Takumi around for longer since he too is without friends (considering Kiba died and Yuuka too). I like to think he was trying to just keep Takumi around.

The reveal at the end though the great leader was Takumi or took on his form or something really came out of left field and was the only really bad decision regarding the show. Why? Oh, and he uses a Faiz Signal Bike to transform. Okay.

I also have a hard time understanding how the time loop works. I understand that machines seem to be unaffected (Given how Belt-san had data from Shinnouske dying) and that at least the Drive crew got their memories more filled in with each loop. But then how does Shocker getting stronger work? I could understand maybe Rider 4 getting completed faster after each reset as they learn how to make him, but those Shocker grunts going through the streets and the planes and more enemies popping up in general? I don't get it.