[Fish Sandwich]

I think I'm just going to keep making the screencap every week Build riding his bike until an episode comes along where he doesn't. It makes me absurdly happy to see a Rider consistently doing that. Watch him not ride it next week just because I'm taking it for granted now...:

- You know what else makes me absurdly happy that isn't even a big deal? Cold openings and seamless transitions to the theme song being back. I know that might sound even sillier than the bike thing but I honestly considered that a HUGE part of Heisei Kamen Rider's identity right up until they ditched them for three years.

- I finally pegged why I like Sento so much. It's not just that he isn't as aggressively nice as the past few protagonists, it's that he's the first Rider protagonist since Hibiki (or maybe Haruto? There's room for debate) to not function as the audience surrogate. That role pretty clearly goes to Ryuuga this year, and that allows Sento more freedom to have layers and secrets you can't have otherwise. It's a dynamic I enjoy because it makes the larger than life hero feel that much more larger than life. See Ultraman Orb for reference.

- And since I like him so much, rest assured that "world's stupidest genius" is an affectionate nickname, and not an insult. Seriously though dude, how hard is it to match 2 stickers? Even if you don't know the alphabet, and are colorblind, you can instantly rule out any two Bottles with different labels. Or maybe he can't rule them out? Like maybe as a man of science(!), he prefers to be thorough in his research? I'll just pretend that's the case for now but even that excuse still begs the question of why it's such a surprise when you do find a Best Match.

- Getting on to the episode itself, I have to say this one was WAY better than last week. Mostly due to less crazy pacing, even if all the political intrigue and secret organizations makes it clear this series is going to have a dense plot. It's admittedly a bit worrying that Sento felt Ryuuga (who, remember, IS the audience) needed a flowchart to spell out all the pieces when we're only 3 episodes in. Although he's not wrong, because I can't even remember half the names yet. For instance, I'm dead positive Night Rogue is "that obviously evil guy" because it's clearly the same voice. I thought Ex-Aid had a lot going on...

- That being said, this episode didn't suffer from any of that, and we got a fun standalone-ish plot that built nicely on Sento's hero credentials.

- Hey, and I also learned Night Rogue and by extension Cobra guy (I'll get the names down eventually I swear) have actual eyes under their visors. I don't know if that looks cool or weird. Perhaps it's a Best Match of the two.