[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 38

I desperately wish I could be the contrarian here and say these are secretly some great episodes of Kabuto, because there's only so much point in coming in here to dogpile on a story that was clearly never trying to do more than kill time, but the best I can do to disagree with Die is mention that I'd definitely rather watch God Speed Love than this.

To be fair, these episodes are a lot more fun than that movie is; simply having Tsurugi around helps loads on that front. All he's gotta do is roll up in the woods out of nowhere for one scene to spout a catchphrase and the episode will feel that much more worth it. Of course, with him only in that one scene, he can't do much to save this second part by himself. His best friend Kagami tries valiantly in his stead, as Die covered, but, uh, like he also said, this is not a good story.

There's a bit right at the end, after the Hyper Zecter gives Tendou a glimpse of Hiyori (seeing her name in the credits again was the high point of excitement for me here by the way), where he's reflecting on that a bit, and reaffirming his dedication to protect both his little sisters, and that was such an obvious potential core to this story it just didn't bother with, in favor of a half-baked horror mystery. If you're going to do a set of episodes about Juka's school being threatened by Worms and Tendou having to go there to watch over things, there was maybe a great opportunity there to highlight their relationship in some way. I get that Juka is such a one-dimensional character by nature it might still be tricky to do anything too interesting, but it could've been, at the very least, a way to emphasize that more protective, almost doting side of Tendou she brings out. Because that is the whole reason he's bothering to do this, but it's not a concept that goes anywhere, and that's kinda this one in a nutshell, unfortunately.

The same can be said of the focus on Kageyama, where he finds a glimmer of hope only to have it crushed by the end. It's super hard to pick out what the point the episodes are trying to make with it is. It's framing Kageyama a bit more sympathetically than usual, while also showcasing how much of a toxic influence Yaguruma clearly is, but to what end is that, when they both end up back where they were at the start?

I seriously hate that I'm even talking about the episode in this fashion. I try to avoid saying stuff like "this is what they should've done instead" when criticizing a story, because I think arguing that way is sort of in bad faith. I like to start from the position that there's some worthwhile goal it's trying to reach, and ask how it could better accomplish that, because I think that leads to a far more interesting and constructive critique. And that's what most bums me out about these ones – I simply can't see what they were going for. Does it want to be a genuine horror thriller? Then it either needs more consistent atmosphere in the direction, or a more exciting mystery. Is it shooting for a low-key, goofy ensemble piece for the cast? It could maybe stand to be more wild in its execution then. Is it legitimately just here to fill two weeks? Because if that's the case, then I can't call this two-parter a failure.

Again, it's not some utter dumpster fire, and I'd love to highlight what works, but beyond the stuff with Kagami that Die called attention to, I'm really struggling here. I didn't feel genuinely awful watching the episode, but I sure did writing about it.