[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

In this episode, though, it felt more like a modulation of the writing than part of a character arc. (This doesn't feel like a story about Tendou re-examining his assumptions about characters?) It felt like someone watched the footage of the first few episodes and went Oh Shit This Guy Can Come Off Pretty Terrible. There's more consideration in the script for Tendou at least acknowledging the necessity of other people to achieve his goals and treating them with some baseline respect. It's a recalibration, maybe, of how to portray Tendou's character that has the writing start to match up with the performance.

(I mean, that's usually how it works on shows. The scripts for the first few episodes are written before anything's filmed, and the producers don't know how an actor will approach things. It's written toward the character. Once footage starts to come in, they start writing toward the performer, and that's when things can really get good.)

Nah, when I said about the morally ambiguous good guys journey such as those Kamen Rider had usually in secondary Riders as them becoming better person, it's not necessarily about the characters themselves re-examining what they've done. It can also be done by the story to reveal to the audience about those characters' hidden depths (where those characters themselves already know or working towards it too sometimes); how they're like deep down, that they aren't as horrible as they're painted out at first. Same as what I talked about character development, probably those that seemingly made to change audience perception isn't necessarily about modulation of writing? Hidden depths are common storytelling, it can be discovered in backstory or organically as a story progresses.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, but it doesn't seem like she has any plan for getting info out of him? To paraphrase the Simpsons, she's tried nothing and she's all out of ideas. She folds her arms at Tendou's deflections and demands, but she's not offering any compelling reasons for him to divulge information. There's no promises, no threats, no battle of wills. She just sits there, getting more frustrated at him... not voluntarily explaining his secrets and backstory to the people who kidnapped him off the street?

And, like, I could see her being this bad at her job if she were being forced to do it, but Truegami specifically recruited her because she wanted to find out who Kabuto was and what he was up to. Now she's got him where she wants him and she's got zero plan of attack. And she's supposed to be the smart and capable one! Even Kagami figured out how to use a wind-up baby chick to distract a Zectrooper! Misaki didn't even have that level of cunning!

I think I get a lesson through this one; that mean and strict ways don't always work if you want to get something out of someone. People believe that successful leader, or training, or organization, etc. can only succeed if they're built in strictness, meanness, harshness, etc. But probably Misaki's way of dealing with Tendou shows that this is not the case, though in that place, normally the interrogator will just be constantly angry at the suspect at all times; and with the Zectroopers standing besides them is the usual way of even more threatening "speak or we'll shoot you". And I get it, like, for example, Tendou wants to call Juka, I think that can be used as a leverage to make Tendou speak (dunno about how it'll succeed though, or your reaction if it failed), that if Tendou gives the intormation ZECT needs, he'll be allowed to speak with Juka.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODES 07 & 08

I dug watching them, absolutely. Yaguruma is a great new antagonist, and the way these episodes executed their action sequences were pretty fun. There are some great gags (all of the rivalry shit in 07, that bowl measuring joke most of all) and a few scenes building out the Hiyori/Tendou dynamic that are, at a minimum, delightful.

But the core of these episodes, the way Yaguruma comments on and distorts Tendou’s character… that’s the biggest thing in these episodes, and yet I don’t really have as much to say about it as I thought?

Clashes between Riders seems to be the norm for shows featuring more than a few Riders, but that doesn't mean those Riders are guaranteed antagonist like Yaguruma here. If you think that Tendou is distorted, it seems that he's so used to be the best and he recently found himself challenged, at least in cooking contest that he's "beaten", as the story isn't Yaguruma Is Great Forever... but Tendou Is Great Forever (and he has the narcissism to know this, he outright had god complex; and the likely pettiness here when someone challenges that).

I don't know if you take the Tendou hurting Kageyama part as him being distorted, but that just reinforces how Tendou's another one of anti-hero main protagonist (which is reserved for secondary Riders usually), he performs what Rider main characters do by saving others and killing Worms, which means heroic actions, but he has several unheroic unheroic qualities like him doing that to fuel his ego as the chosen one, and for here, he shows little compassion for someone he hospitalized and brags that he'll retaliate like that when someone defies him. Which is why I think character's morality depends more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them, like civilians or strangers (taking care of them for good guys, and preying them for bad guys). Caring about friends and/or family like Tendou does for Juka and Hiyori won't necessarily cut it.

Kagami seems to respect Yaguruma a lot, though he rightfully criticizes Tendou's behavior of hospitalizing someone. And he now reinforces ZECT's policy about only one of them can be a Rider, and becomes increasingly more frustrated that he at first does it out of Tendou's concern, but later he outright think of him as unworthy. And one of Tendou's main characteristics is how unflappable he is, nothing fazes him, so he wouldn't think much about Kagami's strong feelings.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s a lot of fun to be had in these episodes, for sure. The way Yaguruma nad Tendou immediately get on each other’s nerves to the degree that they need to have an Iron Chef cookoff is… I mean, it’s one of those story ideas that’s almost too perfect to believe it actually happened. (Hiyori confessing to Sally that the only reason she picked Yaguruma’s dish is because she prefers hot food is such a beautiful touch. Perfection is a subjective quality! That’s kind of what the theme of these episodes is! Never change, Hiyori! You’re the only objectively perfect one on this show!) Seeing Kagami throw the difficult Tendou aside for the new golden boy (literally?) of Yaguruma is, y’know, of course. Of course!

For this one though, nothing against it obviously, I'd like to know more about how Hiyori prefering Yaguruma's dish as it's a hot food is a beautiful touch. Otherwise this show is about perfection... Tendou's perfection of having no flaws.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And that’s sort of the problem, once we get past the tofu battle: everything goes pretty much how you’d expect? Kagami puts himself deeper in Yaguruma’s shadow, by, uh, joining Yaguruma’s Shadow. Tendou shakes his head at Kagami’s fickleness. Yaguruma’s cool facade begins to crumble, Kusaka-style, as Tendou’s successes mount. It just keeps ticking away, getting us closer to things falling apart.

That last scene, though! Worth it? Maybe worth an episode and a half of by-the-numbers storytelling. (I mean, that scene of Tendou dressing up like a priest and reciting his own scripture is no slouch, either!) It’s a magnificently shot fight, with Kabuto and TheBee (a wasp, not a bee) cast in silhouette against a blazing sunset. Feels appropriately mythic, you know? I just wish what preceded it was more… something.

The tofu material is something that I commonly see in some other medias that enforces duels decide everything mindset, especially for medias that are merchandise-based. And those kind of medias are like to be made fun of other people (I don't think this is a good thing, you do say something like making fun of something you like, but I feel that what happened to those medias are more derogatory), that something trivial like cooking, or playing board games, etc. are treated as life-or-death like fighting. And yeah as you said... you think Yaguruma is distorting Tendou? Totally other way around, Yaguruma's cool facade crumbles here, and it's not gonna stop there, and while Fish thinks that Tendou doesn't know for ep. 3, this is a show of Tendou's uncanny ability to detect Worms. Tendou's zen-like phrases fit so well for his job here as a priest. The sunset is also a fodder for more Tendou's zen phrases. A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶!̶ ̶F̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶b̶e̶.̶