[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 41

Not a bad episode of Kabuto, but another one I've maybe got some negative memories tied up in?

Mind you, at this point, I only have a slightly better clue what's going to happen next in this show than Die does. My recollection of Kabuto's final stretch is basically nothing but that anecdote about the fence from 37 over and over again. A ton of vague feelings assigned to the faintest remaining images of plot points and scenes. For Kabuto's final act, two of the things I remember are being kinda fed up with Kagami, and a whole lot of Native Nonsense, which I cared for about as little. I have no idea if either of those things will even apply past this one episode. It would not be the first time my memory of Kabuto has failed me.

Like, you think I'd probably remember Tadokoro turning out to be a Native, right? Which characters are and are not space aliens seems like information you'd retain, but hey, the guy could've fooled me twice, and did! Tadokoro had all these lines in the first half of the show stressing his absolute loyalty to ZECT, and making it clear that, despite Die's infinitely more amusing read of him as a perpetually frustrated salaryman type just trying to make ends meet, he had a lot more knowledge of the organization than he let on, and a much bigger stake in it as well. Clearly something personal to him. It never once occurred to me during this rewatch this was the reveal they go with. I half expected it turn out he's got some kind of mob debt scenario going on with ZECT to keep his family restaurant open or whatever. It could've been anything, is the point. We get a new Worm villain here too, and I mean, he's just some random guy to me. I know that monster suit okay – super tough purple guy from the end of the show – but that's the extent of it.

So this whole episode is essentially one big mystery to me, and I can't speak too much to where this is all heading. My overall opinion on it is basically where Die's is at, in that it feels needed, but not exactly fun, taken on its own. Kagami's Big Feelings get ~maybe~ a little too big (although more on that later), the Worm/Native thing is a bit too nebulous to be invested in right now, and Tsurugi is the best part, which is one thing my memories have not been wrong about. There's honestly not a whole lot I even have to say about the script. (I did find it hilarious that Kabuto is only allowed to finally use Hyper Clock Up again now that he's up against a foe who makes it completely useless though.)

But, hey, who needs to talk about the writing when this is an episode directed by Ishida? This is by no means his prettiest work, but I'll make the argument that it's still pretty great in its own way. There are glimpses of the sort of exaggerated, bold style he likes so much here, but all around, this episode varies between dispassionate and outright messy. Crucially, I think this is done to match the mood and tone of the scenes, and that's the sort of thing I like about Ishida. He is extremely aggressive about it in this case though, and I could see it turning some people off, because it admittedly isn't the greatest to look at in places. But it's like, on the other hand, you are right there in that mess with the characters, and I think it helps a lot to convey Kagami's deteriorating state of mind in particular. You see, if you look at the Tsurugi subplot, it's all fairly normal and even quite gorgeous in places, and that's how I know the way the other side of the story was shot wasn't an accident.

It's all in these simple little tricks throughout. When Kagami and his dad are having a conversation, the camera angles start at a distance and just keep gradually getting closer and closer and closer to the two of them, building the intimacy up to the point it's right in their faces as their chat becomes more and more emotional, culminating in Kagami bursting out of the room fighting back tears, unable to accept his father's attempts to reassure him. Right after that, he's discussing all the secret history he's now privy to with Tendou and Misaki, and the camera is no longer stable and measured, but actively uneasy, constantly wavering in even the simplest shot. It's all of the stress Kagami is feeling embodied visually. The world itself just won't seem to stand still anymore. Kagami feels isolated at this point, getting no real sympathy from anyone, and that's reflected when Tadokoro joins the group for their next scene, where Kagami is always kept apart from everyone in some way. Either he's not showing his face when everybody else is, or they're not in focus at the same time, or they just plain aren't in the same frame as each other.

Individually, none of these touches would be particularly impressive, but it adds up to something a lot smarter, and thinking about the direction makes me get more on board with Kagami's usual intense emotional state towards the end than I thought I would be at first. When you think about how shaken he is by everything that's happened, and how he was very clearly staking his absolute last bit of faith on good ol' trustworthy Tadokoro, only to immediately have it betrayed again, it's honestly sort of understandable he kinda loses it? Like, I thought before I was writing this that I agreed with Die that Kagami's temper tantrums wear thin, but everything about the direction of the episode is telling me this is well beyond just a regular bad day for Kagami, and now it's sort of stopped bothering me?

I think this is another post that turned out pretty messy (matches the episode, I guess!), but at least I was able to give a sort of real-time demonstration of one of the biggest joys of doing these things – when taking the extra time to digest what you just watched leaves you seeing a bunch of new things in it you never would have thought about otherwise.

Still far from a favorite episode of the show for me, but I think I can appreciate what it's going for way better now.