[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(That said, deep dish pizza? I'm probably as angry at that as Switchblade is at these episodes.)

But it's so American!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I do get what you're saying, though. As someone who felt like Agito took a minute to stop feeling like The New Season Of Kuuga, I can see how the late-stage changes that a new team is bound to implement... I mean, they had to hit the ground and immediately come out swinging, not unlike young Akira in this episode. That's tough to do! Akira's a hard bar to clear! Replacing another creative team two-thirds of the way through a season is bound to be a bumpy ride. I am not surprised that it proved too bumpy for some.

Oh for sure, it feels a lot more like Hibiki Season 2 than a natural continuation from the previous episode. I think that if some of these plot points were planned in advance and integrated more effectively, it would be more of a whole story. But of course, the staff change was very turbulent and not a lot of effort was made to connect the 2 halves of the show. Similar to how I feel about EX-Aid after the Genm X arc.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

He's a character that never would have fit into the original show and he is the number one thing that I hate about this era of the series.

Hmm? I recall you said the derailment of a certain character starting with Episode 36 and 37 is the number one thing you hate about Hibiki's second half, which means Kiriya, who I presume you meant by "that character", is only number two?

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

(I'll also point out here that I am not alone in this opinion. Kiriya is one of the most hated characters in the entirety of Kamen Rider. There were a lot of upset fans when the character's actor, Yuichi Nakamura, came back in a couple years for a role on Den-O. It's very much to Nakamura's credit that this character went on to be well-loved.)

Ouch, I think I found a new unpopular opinion then, since Nakamura's second character is one of my least favorite things about Den-O.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Yeah, you basically summed up a lot of my opinions on these episodes. I myself can’t bring myself to hate Kiriya, mostly because I love just how blunt he is compared to everybody else, which makes him feel actually refreshing. And I particularly love the scene where he calls out the English teacher on his bad pronunciation, since that basically establishes that while he may be a jerk, he’s a jerk with a good reason: he thinks other people are flawed and see himself as the saviour (plus it’s reminiscent of the last time Inoue wrote a dedicated school scene in a classroom, with a kid upstaging the teacher. He must’ve had some issues as a kid).

Inoue writing about how terrible high school can be is definitely an experience that I can relate to. Yuka's tragic backstory in Faiz was especially memorable and made a lasting impression on me. I appreciate how he's not afraid to show how real and awful those problems can be and exaggerate them for dramatic effect. Even in Fourze, where high school is more chaotic and exciting rather than lonely and depressing, a**holes still exist. Shounen meeting Kiriya, this overachieving but terrible person, seems like fate challenging his belief about himself.