[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I feel like, Ryou suddenly returns after 2 year because of him being murdered by Worm.

I meant more that Ryou's cover story was... there kind of wasn't one? The episode doesn't give a ton of support to Kagami's delusional faith in the reappearance of his brother, and it's something that probably could've used a little more dialogue. With this whole story needing to conclude in one episode, there's not a ton of space for a long exchange, but I think Ryou needed to show up after a two-year absence with a little more than I've Been Slammed At Work Bro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And there, you use the term narcissistic, jerk, less heroic, egostical, etc. to describe Tendou, by that it's clear that he's not the most upstanding individual, so what's the term to sum him up if it's not "asshole" to you?

He's a complicated guy! It takes a lot of different words to describe him! For this story, it's less about Tendou being an asshole and more about him figuring out how to be friends with Kagami. There's a lot of friction in this story, and no small amount is because of Tendou not having Kagami as figured out as he thought.

(There's a bit from 03 that I really liked, where Kagami starts to tell his Tragic Backstory, and, like, halfway through you can see Tendou mentally go Tragic Backstory, Yep, Got It and check out. He's not used to people being more complicated than he predicted!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Tendou seems to throw the baseball violently (seems to me), yet Kagami is on guard and just catch it anyway.

I think it's more a mix of Tendou a) never doing anything less than perfect, so he's going to throw that ball like/better than a professional pitcher; and b) it would be an insult to Kagami if Tendou went easy on him. Kagami wants to be challenged in that moment, and Tendou is willing to accommodate him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's a great, strong direction for the overarching character growth, don't get me wrong; I don't mean to say any of this is bad so much as that Kagami's motivations as the protagonist (and yes, he is THE protagonist) don't have the same personal appeal to me so, so many other Rider leads do. What I know about Kagami right now is that he joined a shady organization in large part to pursue a personal vendetta, and that just can't grab me instantly the way watching Yuusuke or Shinji see a crying girl and realizing they have the power to stop that from happening again can.

Which is a totally unfair comparison to make! I can't be clear enough about this! This isn't analyzing the episode anymore, I'm just trying to understand why I don't feel much of an emotional connection to Kabuto, and I think that lack of a great heroic motivation presented upfront for either of its two heroes is a big part of that. Like I've said before, I love these ideas conceptually, and I would never want every Rider show to do the same exact things over and over, so the variety is awesome, but I think Kabuto might be a case where that results in a series that's a little more for others than it is for me. At least that's my theory at the moment, anyway. Still plenty of this show left to see how I feel about.

I get what you're saying. I don't... I'm not sure I have this problem? A lot of what I try to do each show is meet the story on its own terms, and find some way to care about these people, their story. It's always been weirdly easy for me to invest in stories, sometimes to my detriment. (I don't love caring so much about fictional people! It's not great for my emotions!) But the advantage is that, with Kamen Rider, I've been exposed to different takes on things like friendship, struggle, achievement, loss, etc.

The things I don't care about in a Kamen Rider series are almost always plot machinations: dumb mysteries, obvious reveals, whatever. But the people in them... I don't know, it's just natural for me to care about what Kagami's going through because Kagami's going through it. (A lot of it is the performance! It's a great performance!) It doesn't really match up to anything in my life. I never had a burning need for vengeance. I haven't needed to put my trust in a narcissist who nearly bankrupted me by ordering premium mackerel. But I just find myself getting lost in Kagami's story, feeling his grief and looking for some way out of it.

So, yeah, I get what you're saying about not feeling a connection to Kagami's story, but... I think I might have the opposite problem? As long as these stories are this grounded in character, the show pretty much has me 100% invested.

But I'm weird!