[Kamen Rider Die]

No, okay, I'm just kidding. Let me talk about that Houjou stuff.

It's great, obviously. It's priceless. Him kicking ass on the training course, trying to befriend/impress Ozawa and The Other One, and, my absolute favorite, how utterly one-sided his rivalry is with Nijou.

It's not just him giving Nijou shit that I love, although I do love it. It's how he's constantly giving Nijou shit while Nijou is rooting for him. It's so hysterical, that dynamic. Nijou congratulates him in the hallway, and Houjou's all Good Luck With Your Thing and Nijou's all Hey Whatever I Can Do To Help You Out and Houjou's all Ha Ha Cute That Will Never Happen... the best. The. Best.

I realized what I loved about Houjou, why it was really working for me, once he suited up as G3. "Oh," I thought, "he's Kamen Rider Brave." All of that self-confidence, the gratuitous narcissism, the ways he needs to not just succeed but let other people know how they're failing, that's so Hiiro. And, shit, I love Hiiro. I mean, Hiiro never tried to make people feel bad, he was just being blunt with his assessments, but Brave and Houjou are both cracking me up in the same ways.

Brave also never cracked under pressure, so I guess that's another difference. Houjou getting beat and then just legging it, so fantastic. I mean, it's funny, but it's also a great way to make Nijou look more heroic for just not quitting as G3. It's a tricky situation, to make it seem realistic that Nijou would be removed and also make it seem realistic he might be reinstated, despite him not doing anything new as G3 to change anyone's mind, and this development, uh, yes. Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't make Nijou G3's filling again after Houjou's spectacle.

Yeah, that whole plot was aces for me, for the humor, the action (that park fight, the first one, so cool!), the character interactions (Ozawa hates Houjou but she's trying to make it work, Houjou needs Ozawa to acknowledge his greatness, The Other One is such a beta), the ways backstory gets filled in organically, it's all so good. The Team G3 stuff is going over really well.