[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 19

Hey, look, it's another character from Kabuto I'm particularly fond of! But why? And how much of that is in this particular episode? Well, for now I'll say Tsurugi's got a pretty sweet Rider design in my opinion. I'm even a fan of the notably gaudy Masked Form and how it contrasts with the more appropriately elegant Rider Form, but most importantly, he's got a sword, and I like those! I'm also not always hard to please, if that wasn't obvious yet.

In terms of personality, he's a guy who leaves a very strong first impression, for sure; love his establishing scene with him demanding a fork passed down through his family for generations be thrown in the trash for having the audacity to fall out of his hand onto the floor once. You get to know Tsurugi super well by the end of only one episode, even showing hints of some emotional trauma, giving him a layer beyond being an upper-class jerk right away, which I think was a smart move. There's a nice feeling that there's more to come with Tsurugi, and as the main thing the episode is trying to accomplish, it nails it as well as you could ask. Most of his scenes here do an excellent job fleshing out various angles to him.

The episode built around all of that is maybe a bit on the fluff side of things, but I'm hesitant to call it a serious issue. It strikes me as Inoue and/or the rest of the staff realizing something lighter was called for after the punch to the gut that was the previous episode. The term "breather" comes to mind, and this is definitely one relaxing episode of Kabuto – even if it pays the price in a certain lack of depth.

I can't hate it though. Kagami joining up with the rest of the ZECT-Mobile crew to pursue a life of crime wouldn't be half as hilarious to me if it wasn't so abruptly paced and disconnected from anything else going on. I don't have enough nice things to say about how funny those scenes in the back half of the episode are to me. Tendou and Tsurugi's epic sports competition, it's funny, yeah, but even if unintentionally, the goofy ZECT stuff in this one is definitely where I got the most laughs, deliberately pretending the whole time that there isn't any twist plan behind this that will be revealed in the next episode, and instead imagining Tadokoro and Misaki are secret adrenaline junkies who only got Kagami involved once he found out to make sure he wouldn't go nark on them for their illicit and reckless behavior.

Admittedly, the most fun I had with it being entirely in my head sorta speaks to how shallow this one maybe is. There aren't exactly a lot of complex dramatic implications to occupy your mind here. Not the best episode of Kabuto in the world, for sure, but I legitimately do believe it serves a purpose in the grander structure, so to speak, and is ultimately an inoffensive good time. Plus, the requisite bookending action sequences are both cool, with director Nagaishi picking a super sweet shoreline spot for Tsurugi's debut fight, and then the one at the end, which takes place at night, inherently making it look more awesome, even before considering how it matches our new Rider's cooler color palette. There's a reason I went with that screencap up top.