[Switchblade]

Fourze 25-26

The graduation/prom arc, wherein the Kamen Rider Club must face the reality of losing two of their members while the show must justify keeping the whole cast intact.

I actually really like this two-parter. The Zodiart is pretty underdeveloped and her plan to trick people into thinking that older Zodiarts are back leads to some nice cameos, but not a lot more. Oh, and inconsistent translation of the constellation names, I suppose. No, the main focus of this arc was on the characters. Miu and Shun are about to graduate and they're having trouble. Miu is quietly freaking out about the prospect of the KRC continuing on fine without her and Shun is freaking out because Miu won't go to prom with him (as a side note, even if I didn't think "promposals" were stupid, I would still find Shun's ideas increasingly idiotic - what was he even going to do in a clown suit?). This leads to a lot of good character moments, especially if you've been a long-time Gentarou/Miu shipper. The show really pulls out a lot of stops to say farewell to these characters... only to reveal at the end that they're still going to be in the KRC. It's a cute ending, though, and it doesn't feel like it invalidates the build-up.

The other big thing about this arc is that episode 26 features the series debut of the Rider Girls. The Rider Girls, if you're newer to Kamen Rider, is an idol group that Toei put together to promote Kamen Rider. Their main gimmick was that each one wore a Rider belt and dressed in colors vaguely related to their respective Rider. They did a cover of the original show's theme song, contributed songs to a couple of Rider movies, and made a guest appearance in this episode to sing a song for the AGHS prom. And then they more or less disappeared. I looked them up awhile ago and apparently they're still a thing, although I don't know if they've contributed to anything official for Kamen Rider in years. I assume they just do birthday parties and mall openings now. I didn't like their song back when this first aired and my opinion of it has not changed.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? No, but she has begun flailing around more when she speaks. That's probably not a good sign.