[Fish Sandwich]

It's good to see everyone appreciating how great Justifaiz is, but if we're talking catchy Rider theme songs, there's really no beating Be The One. The flow of the repeated "e" sounds in "nanika wo tasuke, sukutte dakishime, kokoro ni furete, to~doku yo, tsutaware" is unreal. This is only barely on-topic and I'm going to have to apologize to Die for getting the song stuck in his head again, but you know, I just feel these things are important to say. I really needed to send this message and let it ring out.

On the actual subject of the thread, though, I love Kaidou's dumb plan immensely too, and what's crazy is, I remember during my rewatch thinking the way Takkun and Kusaka undo their transformations before giving chase to two monsters was pushing it... and never once stopping to ask if Kaidou's plan itself crosses the line. It truly does fit his character so well I'd never question it. It is the absolute definition of "just stupid enough to work".

Also, real talk? I think Murakami is a pretty fair boss all things considered. He makes big shady power plays, and is quick to throw out threats to anyone who crosses him, yeah, but he also gives his underlings a lot more space than most evil leaders in tokusatsu. The main bad guy in a Showa Era series would've executed Mr. J just for having the nerve to still be alive after his first failure, and then genetically re-engineered Chaco into some mindless killing machine to make up the difference. Murakami is just the best of the best trying to make sure humanity isn't the lowest of the low! Encouraging evolution is a noble goal, right?

More minor translation cop business for episode 24: Kusaka telling Takumi his past is "with Mari" should definitely be more like "is the same as Mari's" for clarity's sake. I think TV-N felt a little unsure of how to handle it because the word issho can mean "together" in a lot of different ways, but this one actually is meant to be a cryptic hint to future plot revelations.