[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yes? I'm okay with Kagami portraying his positive qualities to save a bunch of total nobodies, but the principal bumping off a dozen nobodies feels crass, exploitative. Both are trying to make up for quality with quantity (I'd rather a Tendou/Keiko scene than Kagami protecting no one of importance), but at least with the Kagami scene there's some compelling outcome. With the principal, who cares what he got up to? It's a meaningless statistic, it's a data point for a story with no weight.

Still, the nameless bodies are important to implement for both sides, for objectivity (though Tendou did care for a stranger too here in Keiko, albeit I think it's still for something specific that draws himself to her; her hardwork, unlike Kagami who cares just because, probably the kids being nameless nobody here can serve as that). Alignments should be viewed objectively. Yeah, audiences often do not get invested in nameless minor characters in shows. They only get invested in, and therefore care about, only the major characters that the show focuses on. By that, what happened to the nameless minors can be overlooked, and that can create skewed perceptions (either for audience or creators themselves), like making light of someone's villainy if a good number of it is done on bystanders, or protagonist centered morality where the narrative only treats anyone heroic if they are nice/favorable to the main protagonists, or treat anyone as bad if they're unfavorable to protagonists, regardless of what they do to the others (preferably non-major characters).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It really could've been a great horror story! It starts off spooky as hell! The body-count on this one is incredibly high! The one new character you care about definitely dies! It's full of weird urban legends! Kids on a camping trip are nearly killed! There are terrifying choirs and fog!

...but then the show's like Naw, and we get a bunch of funny stuff that obliterates the tension, as well as a mystery in name only. It sure had potential, though!

Oh, so you did have an anticipation about it having a potential for a true horror story, I thought for saying "to avoid in the future" means never implement horror genre or something (which isn't objective take in the slightest, it's just disdain for a genre, and that's not the show's problem but your problem).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 39

I mean, I don’t think I ever once thought about where Worm Widow came from, what her deal was. The idea that the person whose life she stole had value, had dreams… it never crossed my mind. But Reina’s story is heartbreaking, truncated and abandoned by a monster she can’t even remember she is. She had dreams, had goals. They weren’t a lot. A tiny apartment, a love of singing. The shot of Worm Widow standing in that room, Reina’s life, and trying to make sense of how it got cast aside… it’s so minor, so specific. It’s a monster that thinks it’s a person, trying to understand how they’ve lost so much. It’s her confusion, you know? This sad, scared look she has. The… it’s like she can feel how her life was invaded, sense that her home isn't hers anymore. She wants to take up her life again, to hide away the trauma, but it’s just one more layer of deception.

This part once again brings up the humanity potential in Worm, like what Kagami dealt with before, which is done in Reina. The real Reina has been killed and replaced by Uca Worm, an executive Worm, but Reina's real personality, which is kind and wants to help people with singing, and also somewhat shy, resurfaces, due to Tendou's attack hitting a critical part of her body (if only others realize what happened there, they can implement that to try ending Worm's threat without killing them and letting them live as normal humans). And well, I think, don't treat the monster and the human as the same by describing her as a monster that thinks it's a person, that's the thing with Worms who kill and replace others which appeared earlier. Reina seems to not know at all about the Riders or Worms in her screentime here, her memory being purely human, continuing from the original Reina's life.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a nice counterpoint to Tsurugi’s story, the question of how much we should empathize with a Worm who thinks it’s human. She’s not Reina, after all. She killed Reina, stole her life. Everything about what she’s doing is sad because of how much she’s had taken from her, but the person we’re meant to pity is the exact one who took it all away. Does her inability to remember her crime make her innocent? Does it absolve her of her sins if she thinks they were committed by someone else? Does the excuse of Well She Won’t Do It Again mean anything, when they’re already a killer?

It's not merely friendship between those 2, they're making love already, the moment where a ladykiller in Daisuke genuinely falls in love for real. The Reina personality and the Uca Worm personality is completely separate, they just share a body as per Worms. All the crimes and killings are done by Uca Worm, it's solely the Uca Worm's fault, Reina wouldn't have any fault in this. Reina, currently, just had the misfortune of sharing a body with an unrelentless killer. It's like when someone has done a crime, but all of them are done in brainwashed state, they won't be at fault for actions that are outside their will, it'll be the brainwasher's fault, and an other media shows that it's wrong to punish, or kill someone who commits a crime all in brainwashed state. Letting Reina take over the Uca Worm's personality (and better, permanently) fully and live and pursue her dream as an opera singer would be a non-lethal way to eliminate Worm threat, in this case Uca Worm, like what Kagami thought of (or some other series did), so that is rootable, for me.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Which, hey, Daisuke! And Gon! A super sweet episode for both of them, and one that trades their normal About Them dominance for something that fits in with the episode’s theme. It’s not an episode about Daisuke or Gon, despite them being one of its major draws.

Daisuke cradling Reina is expected, with his love for women. I would actually give a prop for Daisuke here in his defense to Reina here, it's less obnoxious than what I'd expect coming from him is (like when Kabuto killed a makeup artist a Worm replaced before which made Daisuke attack him just because he didn't like it), Daisuke here differentiates between Reina, by refering her as a non-Worm for now, which acknowledges the Worm existence and its threat. Tendou trying to eliminate other Worm as usual is expected too for him, and Kabuto being Kabuto, Tendou's way would be actually the justified one for later.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

So much so that, for a change, Tsurugi’s weirdo subplot is thematically relevant! I KNOW! It’s a funny one, even if I’m way less enamored of Tsurugi Is Enamored With Misaki than, well, Tsurugi is enamored with Misaki. It’s always going to be slightly (to very) gross, that subplot where some dude won’t stop pestering/legit harassing a woman. Even at its most harmless, it’s still a guy who won’t stop at No, and that’s never going to be a story I’m looking to cheer for, or even anticipate.

Oh you aren't cheering or anticipating this one? I thought otherwise, considering that there are previous Rider series that also has this story, like Faiz' Kaido to Mari (and with you saying this as gross, this is also what some audience think regarding Kaido to Mari, especially with Mari being underage, and for Kaido's fans think this is the only con of him). Yeah, for this time, Misaki pretends to be dating with Kagami, and Tsurugi looks devastated, but this will lead to another thing of dealing with this in the next episode, with a good way, as both Kagami and Misaki are important to Tsurugi.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Luckily, there’s one super straightforward part, and that’s the reveal that Hiyori had a home.

Yeah, this is why I told you not to use the name Dark Kabuto so lightly (to Ichirou in ep. 29-30), Dark Kabuto is an actual canon piece of the story like shown here. Also, with Tendou and Hiyori being actual family (and Tendou and Juka aren't), Tendou isn't violating Hiyori's privacy anymore for this one, she's his sister, and a part of family, which means normally, families live together, with knowing each other's possessions like the bird cage, etc. But what makes you think that Hiyori doesn't have a home?? Hiyori commonly visits Bistro La Salle to work, or Tendou's house for varying needs (or dragged in by Juka), but it's all clear she's only temporary visitor each times.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

The Dark Kabuto suit makes its debut in this episode! Thoughts?

The Dark Kabuto is Souji Kusakabe, the one you refer (wrongly as he's not part of Tendou family) as Another Tendou! Like I said, he's very important piece, other than finding Hiyori, as Tendou also wants to deal with ZECT, it's also about finding Souji Kusakabe.