[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 26

This was easily one of the best episodes of the series yet. I cannot even begin to describe how smart it was of Kabuto to let us see Tendou pushed to the edge like this right around the halfway mark. To see him get so frustrated by people who know more than he does; to see him so off-balance he gets forcibly knocked out of his transformation. Tendou gets hit hard enough to be forced out of a transformation! It's an episode that works wonders for both humanizing Tendou, and reaffirming that, despite his usual attitude, he is, at his heart, a person whose heroism is entirely genuine. Thankfully, Die already told you all this.

The thing is, that's not even half of what makes this episode so spectacular. This is an especially killer one on a rewatch. Much like Tendou, I'm sworn to secrecy about the things I know, so for Die's sake I can't go into too much detail, but everything this episode chooses to be about is massively relevant to later developments not only in terms of the literal hints it drops, but just emotionally and thematically, as well. It's some of the most considered writing I've seen yet on Kabuto.

A lot of this comes from how Sasword's brief little subplot plays out, with the Worm who mimics Misaki genuinely developing feelings for him, evidently having picked up some genuine humanity, which ends with Tsurugi cutting her down, reasserting his desire for vengeance against Worms as a whole. There's the continued obvious dramatic irony there of what Tsurugi's true nature is (though that goes unmentioned here), but there's a little more at play, broadly speaking, that keeps it very roped in to what the rest of the plot is about.

Kagami's end of things is maybe the most straightforward segment of the episode, but it's no less well put together and important. Admittedly, I'm a little unclear on what exactly Tadokoro's little analysis of the Worm towards the endaccomplished, since the game plan after that seems to just be "hit it really hard with your sweet hoverboard", but—

Well, no, you know what? I don't even care to complain about the details, because sweet hoverboard. The whole action climax here is just great. It's one of those ones where it's essentially a big party celebrating the properly emotional narrative climax that happens just beforehand, and it's glorious. The perfect timing of Full Force starting up as Kagami asks Tendou to join back in on the fun; them just going nuts on their respective stupid gimmicky bikes; Kagami making like Wizard would years down the line and using his gimmicky bike as a big foot to kick the monster with; it could only be any cooler if Gatack's bike was also part of a huge dragon instead of merely being shaped like a beetle. And also if they had actually managed to defeat the monster, but still, that's all fine! It's good that Rena wants to stick around, and surviving that like it's barely a problem helps build her up as a threat. And the episode doesn't even leave you hanging when it comes to seeing a monster blow up, as Gatack and Kabuto make sure to at least get the Worm that helped save Rena, which is the next best thing!

Again, utterly spectacular episode of Kabuto. I feel like there's a ton I haven't even gone into. Like, I didn't even mention Hiyori until just now! Oh man, what I am even doing? Let me just wrap back around to that main plot thread real quick to say that, yes, Hiyori is also great in this one, because she's always great. I'm starting to sort of take for granted all the usual excellent body language and inflections and everything I've already mentioned on several occasions, but rest assured that even when I'm not directly calling attention to it, it's still there. There are also some fantastic bits of writing in this particular episode though. One thing I'm kind of shocked Die didn't call attention to is how, directly after that big declaration from Tendou's that he's going to protect Hiyori, he gets knocked aside, and Hiyori immediately puts herself between him and Rena in an effort to protect him right back, demonstrating more through action rather than just words how much she cares too.

A+ plus showing from Hiyori in an A+ episode. Glad I trusted this two-parter was going somewhere special!