[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'd also probably be more invested in Kagami's blow up with his dad if they'd had more than two scenes together before now (and if Kagami's dad hadn't been basically wearing a T-shirt that said "I'm the bad guy" all season).

After the initial fight with Worm Widower and his Widowettes, when Kagami's like Why Did That Native Say My Dad Was ZECT's Boss, I was pretty confused for several seconds until I remembered that Kagami never knew his dad was in charge of ZECT. Kagami Outrageous being in charge of ZECT has been a part of the tapestry of this show for longer than Kagami's been Gatack, so I'd completely forgotten that Kagami never knew. That made his finding out maybe not land as hard as the show would've liked?

That aside, I really did like the scene with Kagami and his dad? The one constant through the series has been that Outrageous legitimately cares about his son. For all of the bizarre dances and biblical sacrifices, Outrageous always came across as someone who wanted a better life for his son than he was able to provide for him. Confessing that Kagami is a pawn in a cosmic struggle... it really seems like that hurt him? I think that part worked okay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

The show seems to be prioritizing follow-through over set-up. This is at least the third or fourth time now where the first part of a story has some issues that don't work really well but are needed in order for the second part to turn out really strong. Yonemura kind of feels like a pilot who's got real bad issues with taking off smoothly but can practically land on a dime (the haunted school arc being a rare inversion).

Interesting point! He really does have a weakness with starting stories, and I'm not sure exactly why that is. I think some of it is how little we see of the opposing forces in Kabuto, what the Worms are planning, so a lot of stories with them have multiple unexplained/under-explained elements when they kick off. It makes stories feel less like the consequence of character choices, and more like This Is Happening Now, which was my main problem with 41's structure.