[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 25-26:

Remember when I said being unsubtle isn't always a bad thing? Well, Inoue has the honor of writing what is, far and away, the most abhorrent thing Asakura does in the entire series, which is saying something. It's so brutal I almost felt physically ill watching the episode knowing what was about to go down. It's a super impactful moment and completely destroys whatever sympathy you might have towards Ouja in a way that really crystallizes his role in the show. There's absolutely no way you can spin him as any kind of anti-hero. He's as much of a monster as the actual Monsters.

The only thing going against the episode is that everybody is arguably taking stupid pills for it to happen, but that's Inoue for you. Once things are back to normal in 26, everybody gets right back on track, naturally. Like, it was actually jarring how much smarter everyone suddenly was again. One part I really loved was when Kitaoka and Shinji go chasing after a guy who was threatening Kitaoka over a trial to protect him from a Mirror Monster. Any hopes of our favorite Super Lawyer acting selfless are dashed when he says he's only doing this because it would look suspicious if the guy mysteriously disappears on the way back from his house. He also later muses that he should just come up with an alibi instead after the endeavor proves to be more trouble than he expected, so you know he's not pulling a Ren and only pretending not to care.

It's up to Shinji to do all the caring, getting out of the rut he's been stuck in by deciding to double down on protecting people instead of racking his head about the Rider battle. It's a great episode for him, because there genuinely hasn't been a lot of Rider on Monster action since Ouja showed up, and consequently it feels super refreshing to see Shinji back in his element. He also gets his first smart hero moment in a good while too. One of the funniest gags in the whole show happens when Zolda starts loaning Ryuki his cards (because Kitaoka has a busted arm), only for Shinji (who was understandably excited about having sweet shoulder cannons) to be let down when it turns out that the gear still just goes to Zolda. He gets a bit upset about Kitaoka using him as glorified vending machine, but then shuts up mid-sentence because the idea of using Zolda's contract Monster as a shield pops into his head. Not super impressive, but it once again shows that Shinji can and does use his brain when he fights. The episode also finds an excuse to bring up that he makes good gyoza again, which I was definitely not expecting to see after the one time that was shown in 13, but that's how you know Kobayashi doesn't mess around.

Den-O 25-26:

These episodes do a great job of ironing out the relationship between Ryoutarou and Yuuto. Compared to the standards at the time, they were hardly bitter rivals or anything (the obligatory Rider on Rider fight was entirely on Ryutaros, which I always thought was a clever workaround), but they definitely don't like each other as people all that much. Ryoutarou is pretty skeptical that Yuuto is who he claims to be, and Yuuto of course thinks Ryoutarou is an unreliable wimp. By the end of this arc, that's started to turn around, after they each see a different side of each other. It definitely helps Ryoutarou's case especially that he's been run so ragged he's going around with a limp for most of the episode again, and still manages to get the job done. He's seriously made of iron or something.

What's that? Why was he so beat up? Well, finding that out requires a different kind of ticket than usual, according to Owner at the end of 26, although perplexingly, we're actually going to be waiting until after 27 to take that trip.

Also, I'm pretty sure episode 25 didn't actually have Den-O anywhere in it. Just Zeronos. I mean, sometimes I complain about episodes of Kamen Rider that don't have the base form, but that's taking it to the next level. At least they balance it out with some more Plat Form in 26.

OOO 25-26:

Firstly, this is the most engaging Victim of the Week plot in the show so far. A story about a boxer forced into retirement due to all the injuries he's accumulated through his fights is pretty heavy and interesting on its own, but then OOO decides to kick it up a notch by drawing a direct parallel to the way Eiji has been constantly ignoring his own health due to his compulsive need to help people, even as he's constantly falling over from using Combos and in bandages from getting beat up by monsters. It's honestly quite impressive how much the comparison lands, and I appreciate the way the very real world problem of punch drunk syndrome is explicitly the focal point. It emphasizes the idea that Eiji is a "real" person who absolutely can not keep doing what he does without paying the price. It's easy to see these things in a show and just think "wow, that's guy's cool and heroic", like I've been doing with Ryoutarou constantly, so I appreciate how bold it was of OOO to reframe that and instead show how having that kind of determination can actually be really, really scary. This idea isn't something the show will just forget about after (or before!) this point, either.

Secondly, Eiji's messed up relationship with Ankh is the other focus here, and I actually think it's portrayed even better than in TaJaDor's debut. Ankh gets to look way more suspicious than usual, and when Eiji shows faith that he isn't doing anything too sketchy, it's pointedly NOT because he thinks Ankh is some kind of good person. Instead he comes to that conclusion based entirely on what he logically knows or can assume about how Ankh operates, which is probably the best summation of their dynamic yet.

And thirdly, it's really freakin' amazing that a show that goes out of its way to subvert stereotypical saccharine storytelling like this still manages to be legitimately upbeat and fun.