[DreadBringer]

Oof, didn't realize that the HBV discussion also involves ep. 36...

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 36

Every show with a Rider team has it somewhere in their season, I think. Someone gets possessed, or gets blackmailed, or whatever. One or more hero turns bad, and the remaining heroes need to fight them. That seemed to be the territory we were in with this Tendou Vs Kagami story, where Tendou’s need to protect Hiyori tips over into outright villainy, and Kagami’s Very Big Feelings are crushed in the fallout. I’d’ve been okay with that.

But this show opted to do something smaller, more nuanced, and I really appreciate that. It went for a story about how people can disagree without dismantling their friendships, how you can be pissed off at someone and still be there for them when it matters. It also did a story about how the value of friendship isn’t just cheering you on when you’re right, it’s also checking you when you’re wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I like the way this episode approaches friendships, where it doesn’t settle for letting unwavering support be just telling people They Can Do It or whatever. It sometimes means hanging around and telling people that they are screwing up big time. It’s not about Kagami abandoning his friendship with Tendou because they disagree, it’s about Kagami telling Tendou he disagrees with him, repeatedly, because he’s Tendou’s friend. That shit can get strained (as much as they’re working together this episode to further their search for Hiyori, they ain’t exactly palling around), but true friendship means sometimes fighting with your friends to keep them from making mistakes. I really love how minor the show made the argument at the heart of this Break-Up story, how much the bond of these two was able to withstand a disagreement.

Of course, yeah it's good to display disagreements to show that bonds can't be easily broken, that you should accept and tolerate the other's differences, but especially when it's done to check out someone's wrongness, which I'd disapprove if a friendship between certain person if they give free pass towards their missteps (but it still depends heavily, like if this is intentional in-universe due to the character being morally ambiguous), especially if the story pulls a protagonist centered morality; expecting you to do the same because they're protagonists. Though as this involves Tendou means this would lead into frenemy interactions (again not complaining), but I'd like to not make every disagreements lead to heated arguments. Every show probably yeah had one of the protagonists going bad, though it depends on the morality of those getting inflicted by this. Traditional heroes like Kenzaki in Blade or Emu in Ex-Aid would go for the possessed part (Genius Gamer M), because he should not perform those acts willingly, while anti-heroes like Makoto in early Ghost or Tendou here would have smaller qualms of getting their hands dirty to get the job done, but it's not always like that.

Also here, Tendou shows defiance to Mishima directly, controlling ZECT members in Misaki and Renge, and talk about how organization doesn't matter to him. Mishima sees Tendou highly, considering him first-rate human, so probably his response to him afterwards isn't like what he did to Kagami, Misaki, Kageyama, Renge, etc?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s the rare Kabuto episode that ends with Tendou apologizing for making a mistake. (Kagami even mentions how weird it is!) But Tendou does apologize to Kagami at the end of this one, and commits to returning the various Zecters. He’s seen what can happen if he’s the only Rider left, and it is not good. The Zecters want to destroy Worms, full stop. While a Rider can harness the Zecters, they can’t exactly control them, which means the Rider doesn’t get to make allowances for The Good Ones like Hiyori. If Tendou doesn’t have anyone watching his back, Hiyori could be the next Worm killed. Tendou’s realized that he needs a support system if he’s going to create a world where Hiyori’s safe.

(I don’t… I’m not sure I 100% believe Kagami Outrageous’s explanation to Tendou about the Zecters being all Pro Ice killers of Worms. Literally the only time we see a Zecter go psychotic is in this episode, and it’s against a Native who could previously summon the Zecter. It doesn’t completely hold up as a piece of information. I’m not sure if it’s a total lie on Outrageous’s part, or if there’s some new evolution of the Kabuto Zecter we haven’t been clued in on, but the behavior of the Zecter here feels different. I wouldn’t be surprised if the belt or the Zecter had been tampered with in some way, to get Kabuto to try and kill Tachikawa. It doesn’t feel like what Outrageous would want, what with ZECT being ordered to protect Tachikawa, but I don’t have any clue what that dude’s endgame is. Anyway, long story short, I’m operating under the idea that Outrageous is telling the truth, while acknowledging that it’s probably a lie.)

Ego-filled person is the one that wouldn't apologize, so obviously that would be weird for Kagami, to them, apologizing means you're lowering your level beneath those people. Though then..if Kabuto got a Perfect Zecter (the sword for Hyper Form) in ep. 37, then... stealing Zecter is really meaningful towards that, and this could negate his apology. But well, Hiyori is also a Native, so the argument applied to her here would be similar to Daigo. Also, Tsurugi intentionally attacked Daigo, with his complete vendetta to Worms, after declaring him as a friend due to him being Kagami's "friend"! (now, time to repair his relationship with Tendou then?? Considering he's the older brother of the girl who gave him takoyaki, and someone Kagami consider a friend). And regarding Zecters and Natives, this is also uncovered yet. Though it seems that, from what I catch at first, hearing the name Souji Kusakabe triggers Tendou and sets him berserk, before the Zecter explanation.

Also, for the info Tachikawa gives in this episode, that is the answer of why Tendou's parents are already on Earth before the meteorite. The Worm that impersonated Kusakabe parents are Natives too. Otherwise Tachikawa is the good monster for this series, like Shima of Blade or Cubi of Ghost, he had peaceful nature, uses his power only to defend the ones around him. He works at a nursery school and loves playing with the kids. Daigo saw a mother and her child being threatened by Worm and changed to his Native form and attacked the other Worms, letting the mother and child escape. And he's the male that has to be protected by other people!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And then there’s Kageyama and Yaguruma, who are back on their bullshit.

Don't really understand their purpose to attack Tendou and Kagami here. Otherwise, this is the unealthy relationship yeah, the kind that should be avoided, the kind of friends that drags you down (of course Kageyama would submit to that, being actually even worse than Yaguruma), and one of that reason can be that them being miserable, so they try to drag others down to their level. Their walk, especially Kageyama's sneer seems zombie-like to me lmao. Probably that actually fits their character here of being "dead inside" for their nihilistic perspection of life (hell, darkness, suffering, etc.)? Though if you praise their act here, I wonder how would you respond against real life edgelords (one of their characteristics is that they think they're great due to their bad traits or supporting them, and being "different"), especially that on Internet here, they're plenty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

Tsurugi has another insane interaction with food, here delightling to the flavor of two burned potatoes. I’ve had plenty of spuds in my life, but that’s not one I’d look forward to. What’s your favorite preparation for potatoes?

Tsurugi is the only person who is able to stomach Renge's food. And that's a total opposite of what he's pampered with for his whole life, with luxurious foods, previously he was able to enjoy an ordinary food in takoyaki, but here, he was able to enjoy a food that is ineligible to eat, the totally opposite end of the food he tasted before. Renge's clumsy tendencies in daily life is a total opposite too of her fighting capabilities that is above most soldiers (the part where the heated lid hits Yumiko, that made me wince). The best preparation for potatoes to me would be the crispy and crunchy one.