[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 30

Oh, man, INOUE FOREVER. There’s something about his episodes… I think I said in another thread that he’s a dude who always swings hard at an idea. If it’s one he doesn’t fully connect with, it goes foul, sometimes infuriatingly so. But when he connects with an idea, really gets ahold of it, it is exceptional. This is… it’s maybe not the best Kabuto episode yet, but it is so quintessentially Kabuto, so true to the soul of this show, that it makes other episodes look like pig food.

It's the reason why he's controversial. "if it's one he doesn't fully connect with, it goes foul" describes controversial. And the one that is mainly mentioned as complaint about him is his edgelord traits, the angsty and edgy parts (well you treat those parts for another comedy part, comedic sociopathy that is, watching people suffer as a form of comedy, which to me, it can be entertaining too, but not always sit well for me at all times because it can justify and/or make light any transgression act for comedy sake), or his side medias (without leash) which can be outright gross, not mentioned about the episodes he made like this though (unlike catwhowalks). But real talk though, the real contribution is provided by the TV production team, Inoue needs a leash, and they're the one who puts Inoue on the leash for his TV writings.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Like, I think The Dark Chef is maybe the best villain this show could ever have? I know there’s a Dark Kabuto coming up (I’ve got an unopened SHODO figure that attests to it), but no matter who that ends up being, I can’t see how they could be a better foil to Tendou than this story had. The idea of someone who values excellence because he can take it for himself, someone who’d drain great people of their skills, someone who humbles great people for his own pleasure, the very idea of excellence being a zero-sum game… all of that stuff is antithetical to Tendou’s worldview. Tendou envisions a world of Objectivist wonders, where geniuses of all stripes follow their muses into realms of achievement that render the world a better place. The Dark Chef covets the skills of others so that he can control the future, lock the world into his desires and goals.

"Dark Kabuto". DARK KABUTO?! Don't mention that name so casually! Jokes aside, I'd catch that, here, the one that finally makes Tendou win over Ichiro is that, as narcissistic as Tendou is, he's still not narrow-minded, he still wanted to learn from others, which he came to Hiiya to do that, and implement surroundings and other worldviews for his cooking methods. While Ichiro, being someone who has even worse superiority complex, rely solely on his method, and doesn't care enough to improve from that. This seems to be a case of Villain Level To Level Grind that becomes his downfall. And as you talk about defeating someone in art makes it pointless about creating art in the first place; this is also an important thing that has to be taken note about artists, you shouldn't refuse to take criticism or supplant your ego to learn from others, refusal to admit flaws and learn from his mistakes keeps from progressing. And I guess, Tendou doesn't need to seek flavors from someone like Hiyori (who Ichiro looks down) then like he was doing previously!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(I’ll say this as a knock against this episode, though: the sound design is oppressive. For all that the last episode seemed to let the jokes land on their own, this one has a wacky sound effect for literally every movement and line of dialogue. It’s suffocating. I’m in love with this episode, and can forgive a lot because of how brilliantly it’s approaching its themes, but it was absolutely getting on my nerves. Much like Tendou had to learn in order to defeat The Dark Chef, sometimes the best flavors are simple. The sound design doesn’t irreparably harm the episode or anything, but it does hamstring a couple jokes by overemphasizing the humor.)

I've known a piece of media where someone got annoyed in-universe because everything they do is accompanied by wacky sound effects. Also no offense, but I'm also not always (but doesn't mean always against, like more 50-50) into forced exaggerating expressions that people do in these kind of episodes like Tadokoro's brother or to a lesser extent, Wakabayashi clone's eating scenes.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s not just Tendou’s heroism that finds new expressions in this episode, though. We also get a little bit more with Kagami and Tsurugi.

Kagami also wants to wage war against Worms (in ep. 3 and ep. 9, and those are between Ryou episode which is the first case of Kagami trying to reach out a Worm), but he'd make an exception towards those that show some humane side like Makoto (who shielded him) and Tsurugi (who is pretty much human now, Tsurugi's personality completely overwrites Scorpio Worm's). I don't know what's the futility of that though, it's just someone powerful enough, killing a superhuman species. There are no rules that Worms can't harm each other, Tsurugi waging war against Worm goes just like any humans who wears Rider Suit fighting off Worms.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

Yes, I absolutely am going to talk about Jiiya’s heretofore unrevealed older twin brother, the master chef Hiiya. He’s a great, bonkers twist on the Old Master character, treating cooking as a bloodsport, a crucible that destroys souls. There is a graveyard outside his house where failures are buried. He’s amazing, and I love that he exists. He’s doubly great because he’s played by the same actor as Jiiya (obviously), and the tones of the two characters are wildly divergent. Jiiya is trembling, gentle. Hiiya is implacable, confrontational. The actor kills in both roles. As of Episode 30, who’s your favorite actor (not character) on the show?

I want to say though, twist of Old Master character isn't something exclusive here. I'd just think that to treat old master here as a bonkers twist here, it's more of people stereotyping how Old Master they usually know portrayed as, and overlook the twists in various medias not only this one. Hiiya seems to be someone who is also a stealth mentor, trying to make the student find by themselves, the deeper meaning behind the teachings; like clothes being ineligible for food at the first place. Would be likely Tendou's actor Hiro Mizushima, as he's someone who likely achieves more, he's fluent in English, and he's one of the actors that goes international.

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Originally Posted by catwhowalks

So these were the episodes that I referred to as the peak silliness of the show. You can see why, I suppose.

They are also the two episodes of the entire franchise that I loathe the most. It feels like an entirely different show. A really bad one. Like if these had been the first episodes of Kamen Rider I had ever seen, I would have assumed the entire franchise was a massive dumpster fire and never taken a second look at it again.

So I find the perspective of those of you who did like it to be rather interesting. I'm glad not everyone suffered watching these episode. I was not so lucky.

It's not unusual at all for people liking these kind of things on Internet, it's flooded with memes, shitposts (sometimes even derailing discussions for their meme sake, to the point that some community had to make a rule about not posting shitposts), and people (though probably vocal minority) hailing the abridged series of a media as a true canon. So it should be expected for people who like these kinds.