[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 14

What's that? Something stupid in a Kamen Rider show that Die didn't like and barely wants to talk about? Sounds like just the job for me! ...especially since Die has seemingly pulled a Kageyama on me when it comes to talking about Hiyori by essentially making my help completely obsolete. I basically can't add anything to a post like that, so, yeah, let's see how much I can talk up a supremely subpar subplot instead, because who else will, right? Actually, that reminds me of something important. I just compared Die to Kageyama, but there's a pretty huge difference there that should be noted – Die is actually good at what he's doing.

Kageyama is just the worst, in so many senses of the word. If you want a theme or an overall takeaway from the ZECT part of this episode, that is it without a doubt. He's a slimy little snot-goblin who takes glee in manipulating people to his own ends to demonstrate his own intelligence, and then in the end still doesn't manage to totally crack the case he's working even with all the underhanded means he readily employs.

It's no wonder I hate this kid when one of his earliest outings in the spotlight goes out of its way to make him look as horrible as possible, centering it around him messing with audience surrogate and designated bad luck magnet Kagami. It's not even so much a matter of me feeling anger on Kagami's behalf; I'm mostly just offended that Kageyama takes such great pride in pulling it off, as though taking advantage of him is any great feat. The ruse at the core of this plotline really isn't that smart, and only some of that seems to be done intentionally. It's far from a defining story for the show... and yet I totally ate it up, because it sort of helped me define what I personally think makes Kabuto stand out?

My secret move here is that the thing that made me like all those silly, overwrought scenes so much is how they made me consider more stuff broadly around the show, which always seems to be where I'm at my most enthusiastic with Kabuto. But you know, the cool sci-fi vibe with aliens making people paranoid about imposters in the midst; Tendou doing Tendou things; extremely standoffish people being jerks to each other; I do like all that stuff!

And this is great episode for Tendou things in particular, even. Him being completely uninterested in the plot because he's looking to grab a meal first, it might be a cheap writing move, sure, but it's also wonderfully in-character for the guy. Him sneaking up on Kageyama to get info on why he's trailing Kagami, hiding his secret identity by putting Kageyama in a hold and sarcastically claiming it's because he's shy, that's just a plain fun superhero bit, and so is his big just-in-time entrance to save the day at the end. I mean, yeah, all of this would've been massively elevated by some proper substance to get you invested in the story, but, for what it was, I still had a great time with it. It absolutely helps if you actively think of it as the B-plot to the Hiyori stuff, though, which is easy for me because Hiyori is always at the top in my eyes anyway.

I'll also take this space to add on to the pile of people recommending Die absolutely check out The First and The Next at some point. They're movies written by Toshiki Inoue that also seem to actively hate the Showa Era; I don't think anyone has ever been more in the target audience.

I was going to struggle to come up with an answer to the question this time because I was overthinking it, but thankfully I can just point at Kurona's, right down to the occasional feeling of being overwhelmed by taking too much on at once. In total honesty, the fact that Ultraman Z is ending basically right after I write this fills me with a huge sense of relief knowing I'll have that much more time each week to dedicate to this rewatch I accidentally committed myself to.