[Fish Sandwich]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Since you were kind enough to talk predominantly about Yaguruma, despite not caring much for him,

I didn't say I didn't care for him, Die; I said I hated him! It's only because I care so much for Yaguruma that it pains me to see him this way. It's complicated, okay? Or, heck, thinking about it, maybe I don't like KickHopper because, subconsciously, I know Yaguruma would consider it an insult to speak highly of him anymore?

At any rate, I'm very much into the idea of us having polar opposite takes here, with me being a hardcore fan of early-series Yaguruma, while you've only fallen head over heels for him in his second debut, because of course we have polar opposite takes on a thing.

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I just... maybe I just have a soft spot for the Returning Rider conceit?

It's a very fun twist, conceptually! Again, I'm not totally sure why I wasn't more into KickHopper when I originally watched Kabuto!. Just to emphasize this as much as possible, I really enjoyed those last three minutes this time around. It's a striking reintroduction, and you'd better believe it was satisfying seeing one of the first things he does upon his return be Rider Kicking Kageyama. Or wait, dang, I didn't even mention yet how much I love that his Kick specifically includes an old school Rider Jump in there, too. So many things to love about a character I don't love! It's so tough having all these feelings!

(Another interesting thing to note here about how our experiences differ is that I knew before I even started the show that Yaguruma was TheBee before leaving and coming back as the much more angsty and popular KickHopper, so ~maybe~ the hype let me down or something? I don't think that's how I really rolled, even back then, and this is all so foggy by now I'm grasping at straws, but it's a theory. I'll also clarify, despite using the word "hate", I don't think I ever outright despised KickHopper, either; he just didn't leave me feeling that great.)

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Hiyori not being there, is like, the only thing worth thinking about

Well duh.

...But yeah, very well structured episode all around.

Oh, and the subject of stock music coming up a little bit ago reminded me of something that I doubt anybody but me was even curious about. It was driving me nuts what Kagami's ringtone on his cell phone was – I was wondering if it was a song pulled from an old Rider show as a subtle anniversary tribute or something, but it turns out it was just a snippet of a piece of stock music made to sound like a generic Showa style hero theme. Bit of a missed opportunity, if you ask me.