[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 15

Trying to write about this perfectly enjoyable episode of Kabuto really gave me an appreciation for what Die was talking about when he said it's hard to break down. Naturally, right after saying that, Die broke down the episode very nicely, but me? I just can't find an angle to save my life right now. The amount of trial and error it took simply to reach the paragraph you're currently reading was rather substantial. There's no big disagreement I have with Die; no piece of the episode that could've stood to be covered more; no general yet pertinent thoughts or fun trivia to work in.

Maybe that's the secret, though? This is a very tight episode of the series in terms of focus and structure. There's no dangling threads for me to swoop in and talk about, because every scene is advancing the same, singular plot. Even something as simple as Tendou cooking for Juka is used as a method to allow for elaboration on the central theme. There's close to nothing extraneous in this one, and that's a huge point in its favor. There's no highly contentious thing I can take a bold stance on, because it's delivering that one plot in a very competent manner that maybe doesn't leave much to the imagination, but also doesn't expect you to fill in holes yourself. Kagami's dilemma here is pretty well-conceived, I'd say, and it's neat to see him be allowed to reel from the events of the previous story, giving it more weight retroactively by not brushing off the stress of being framed for serious crimes as just another day at the office that he can forget about and go right back to the status quo. There's no general thoughts or trivia because... well, on second thought, I'm sure I can find a few random things to cover.

These next two episodes were directed by Nobuhiro Suzumura, who's a tiny bit younger and less experienced than some of Toei's other usual suspects, which admittedly shows in how basic a lot of the episode looks, but it's a very competent, by-the-book sort of basic that's appealing enough, and there were still some little touches I found neat. One was the use of Clock Up here, which won't sound like a compliment for a second, but bear with me. It seems apparent the show doesn't have the budget to keep up the elaborate slow-motion setpieces in every episode, which leads to Drake's use of it here being almost pointless. Remove the sounds, and taken out of context it would like any other fight. Because I'm assuming this is a budget issue, however, I appreciate the very blunt establishing shot showing speeding trains slowing down, with the sound of them rushing by cutting out, and then right back in once the sequence is over. It's only a background element; they don't go fighting in traffic like Kabuto in the second episode, but it works wonders to quickly build the right sense of atmosphere without breaking the bank. Plus, I mean, the whole fight is shot at night, so just in general it looks cool.

Another bit I liked was the increasingly petty escalation of Tendou and Daisuke's squabbling until the scene just ends with them having their backs turned to each other in disgust, although in that case, I have to give just as much credit to the writing for getting me on-board with this dynamic more than last time. It becomes really clear in that scene why exactly Tendou can't stand putting up with Daisuke in a way that makes his frustration feel more natural and in-character. The way his snickering facial expression when Daisuke asks to do Misaki's makeup changes to shocked horror as soon as she says yes is what sold me. Tendou is waiting for this guy to press his luck too much and embarrass himself to the point of self-destruction like most of his potential rivals do, but Daisuke is keeping his composure and getting results just like Tendou would, and the concept of someone who can even come close to matching him entering his life out of nowhere this way freaks Tendou out. Their animosity is borderline instinctive, like two magnets with the same polarity or something. Its honestly pretty adorable.

Alright, that turned out a lot better than I thought it would for a while! This is the first of six straight episodes written by Inoue, which will no doubt be great fun for Die, and hopefully won't always leave me struggling this much to contribute?