[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 20



Kabuto is a show about the value of humility.

It's a little weird that that's such a recurring theme, considering, y'know... Tendou. He's the least humble Rider I've ever seen. He's a man who believes the world revolves around him, who excels at everything he puts his mind to. Systems, organizations, logic, even physics: they all bend to his desires. He will tell complete strangers that he's destined to rule over everything.

And he's not the only one! Every single Rider so far (save Kagami, if he's even worth counting) has been someone convinced of their own greatness, secure in the knowledge that they, and they alone, are worthy of attention and acclaim. They're also egotists, even the ones who preach the harmony of teamwork. They're all aspects of Tendou, taking as given that they're the hero of the story.

But they aren't. Tendou is. Tendou is the perfect hero, the one who always wins. And since this isn't a story that can have more than one perfect hero, that means that everyone else is imperfect, less than, reduced. Their story can't be about them being the chosen one; it has to be about them realizing they aren't the chosen one.

All of these other men who come off as derivative of Tendou... it's a way to use Tendou as this ideal that you could never live up to, never become. He's perfect in a way that only the star of a story could be perfect. Tendou being this immutable law of success allows the rest of the Riders to be examples of learning to live with imperfection, to recover from defeat, to accept your limitations.

Tendou doesn't screw up, really, so we get the other Riders who slowly learn that they can screw up. Tsurugi (it seems like no one's calling him Kamishiro on the boards?) gets a crash course in that concept (not sorry), as he begins to realize how much he can fail. He pulls the best-ever Inoue move by declaring that he's going to Win At Shopping (I can't tell you how much I laughed at this story turn) and then proceeds to infuriate a dozen shoppers, cause an accident that injures Juka, and get himself arrested. It's all of Tendou's Walking Your Path thing, but done up as myopic, negligent. Tendou maneuvers the world out of his path, while Tsurugi expects the world to move for him. Learning the consequences of that selfishness is the first step towards keeping an awareness of the fact that, uh, other people exist?

The second step is learning that your pain isn't the only pain in the world. Tendou arrives at the police station to punch Tsurugi in the face, a thrilling moment of rage from the usually cool Tendou. (He even gives Sasword this little Dudes Don't Lose Their Cool speech in the beginning! And then he decks Tsurugi once Juka's injured! So hypocritical, and so great!) It's a connection between the two characters, one rooted in shared backgrounds. Seeing the anger in Tendou reminds Tsurugi of his own anger at the Worm who killed his sister. He gets exactly how protective Tendou can be, because he's dedicated his life to avenging his sister. It's a realization for Tsurugi, that he doesn't have a monopoly on devotion to a sibling. His pain and commitment isn't unique.

It's a solid episode to explore Tsurugi, and the actor does a solid job of finding a sort of pathetic elitism to Tsurugi's demeanor without tipping it over into despicable confrontation. It's so obviously a defense mechanism, his need to win, that it's easy to pity his stupid boasts. When he apologizes to Jiiya for humiliating himself all day, there's a genuine warmth in the delivery, where he seems to have learned a small lesson in humility. He's not a good guy yet, but you can see the edges of what a good guy looks like.

(And then we've got that insane reveal at the end, that Tsurugi is the very Worm that he's trying to get revenge on. First of all, I definitely didn't see it coming. Second of all, I laughed so hard at the first Mika Murdered flashback, because the Worm in it comes out of absolutely nowhere. They're in an open field, and then there's a Worm? Did he fall out of a plane or something? But it's a touch that makes Tsurugi's memories of the event immediately suspect, so I love it in retrospect. What it means for his story and this show, though... very interested, but not too keen on speculating. It's a great twist, though!)

Meanwhile, we've also got the Phantom Thief Shadow part of the episode. (Not "Phantom Shadow Thief”, which is what I thought she was/they were called last episode. If I'd remembered the name right, I could've applauded the use of Shadow as a clue. Clever!) The Phantom Thief Shadow plot was very fun in construction, even if it wasn't plumbing the same depths as the Tsurugi story. I mean, it did touch a little bit on the idea of Learning Humility, with Kagami getting super jazzed about being a part of PTS as some cool new exclusive non-Tendou club, only for Misaki to go Of Course Tendou's Already In This Club. Kagami's face falls so quickly as he realizes that Tendou's going to be the star of this show, too. But he perks up, relenting to Misaki's logic that, hey, it couldn't hurt to have a Kamen Rider in the group if you're going to fight Worms. It's a beat that ties into the larger idea of recognizing your limitations, and allowing for someone with a higher level of skill to take the lead.

The rest of the plot is pretty fun, if not much more than a well-told action-adventure story. Not that that's a criticism! I like heist stories, and while this is a little lean on twists and turns (like last episode, there's just not enough room to make it any more complex), it's a fun story. I like seeing characters like Misaki contribute to a main plot, and the use of a more subdued Kageyama (he seems actually hurt that Misaki might be a criminal) adds some stakes without being too heavy. (Probably could've done without that Goro/Kagami's Dad scene, if we're talking about cutting stuff. Could've been handled in one line from Kageyama to Kagami!) Just a fun little story about tricks and theft, as you'd expect from a superhero show.

I really enjoyed this episode, a lot more than I did the last one. There's more depth and shading to Tsurugi, and the Worm plot was energetic and fast-paced. Overall, though, I liked how this episode started to lock in a big series theme like Learning Humility. I like when these series are about something!

A QUESTION

We've got knife guys and sword guys and even some drum guys
Bow guys and bo guys and phone guns (from Faiz)
What would you reveal
Are your favorite weapons they wield?