[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Honestly, that's the reason I'm most mad at this episode. Intentionally or not, this is an episode where someone hates who they are, wants to die, and the person who facilitates that is portrayed as a noble hero. It is ghastly. I find it offensive more than I find it stupid, and I find it plenty stupid.

I genuinely cannot fathom how the writer who did an entire series about learning to love yourself despite the parts others dislike, who has a beat in every single series he wrote (and almost every episode for series he guest-wrote) about how you aren't ever just good or bad, you're you, and knowing that makes it easier to get through your day... I don't know how that guy wrote this one? Wrote something so accidentally cruel?

So, yes: I'll allow it.

I think Kabuto destroying Tsurugi, the Worm, is more like avenging him as a person and salvaging the good in him. Tsurugi's goal has always been to avenge his dead sister and now that he knows the truth about what he is, the only way he can do that is by dying, so that both he and his sister can have closure for their deaths.

This episode is a little different from Inoue's usual execution of his themes but the idea is still there. It's like how Takumi spared Kiba due to considering him a human, but also acknowledged that all Orphenochs, even the good ones, needed to die so humanity could live. This can be justified since Orphenochs already experienced death as humans before reviving as Originals or through mutagen injection. The life of an Orphenoch is a dilemma that never ends.

Applying this concept to Kabuto, Tsurugi was killed by a Worm, before being "revived" as an echo in the mind of that Worm. So Tsurugi wanted to accept his death as a human to be free of the evil that was keeping him alive, a second life he never should've had. That's my take on it anyway. The part with him pretending to suddenly become a serious villain and making Cassis Worm look like a chump was a little unexpected though.

This is in no way Inoue's best work but I'm kind of surprised that your least favorite episode of Kabuto and maybe KR in general was written by Inoue and not Yonemura, who wrote your least favorite arc of Hibiki. Maybe you should change your catchphrase to "Inoue Most Of The Time".

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

At best anti-heroic redemption for Kageyama, after spending the earlier part of the series as an anti-villain at best. He fights monsters, but show negative traits like him refusing to take an order. And lol, for those people who bash on traditional heroes and think kindness and compassion is weakness, thinking of them as hindrance to the more pragmatic way anti-heroes can employ against enemies (no hesitation, etc.) that they think can get the job done, this is a clear show of the toxic approach that it can be a weakness as well! Kageyama refuses to listen to Kagami as someone inferior to him, and he just made the situation worse! He tries to do the finisher himself, and Kagami tries to combine it but too late, resulting in Cassis Worm copying 2 finishers and its a downfall to Kageyama.

Yeah, it's kind of like a parody of a common trope in KR, where a character gets a redemption accompanied by a new suit or power. It's made to look like Kageyama is about to get a redemption, until we're reminded that he never made any effort to redeem himself, so changing his suit makes no difference. He never changes, therefore his attempted comeback goes just as poorly as everything else he does.

I have to complain about The Bee Zecter though, returning to users it already abandoned just cause there's nobody else it deems worthy. I mean, would you accept an offer to become a Rider if it meant being always second best to someone else who declined the offer?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Other than that, Maximum Hyper Cyclone, I know that base Kabuto's Rider Kick is a favorite to many, but typically I find beam finishers to be flashier and looking more powerful like this one, but doesn't mean all (my favorite base finishers are something like Faiz' Crimson Smash and Drive's SpeeDrop which are kicks, and Drive also had a beam, which I liked too, on Tridoron mode where he shoots the NSX right to the opponent).

Maximum Hyper Cyclone is one of the reasons why Perfect Zecter is my favorite Final Form weapon. I love how overkill it is! However, I also agree that default finishers can still be spectacular, with Crimson Smash and SpeeDrop being excellent examples you mentioned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

It's ok to feel pity for someone like Souji Kusakabe, but doesn't mean that people can use headcannon and paint him as a saint. Not talking about Souji Kusakabe, but it happened numerous times in other media, where because of tragedies that happened to them (as one of the reasons) to them that magically explains their every evil deed, sometimes even making them a good guys (optionally villainizing the actual heroes), etc. "He's not evil! He's just misunderstood! The heroes are jerks who don't understand what they're going through!". You don’t have to be a flawless person or even a good person in order to be or have been a victim, being a bad person or doing bad things does not disqualify you from the victim status. Conversely, being victimized at some point in your life does not automatically make you a good person or a hero, and does not preclude you from doing evil things and/or being a perpetrator of crime/abuse.

For sure, it's totally possible to acknowledge someone as a villain, but also a person who has been turned in to villain through tragic backstory. I won't defend Kusakabe's actions towards Hiyori but I can understand why he feels so betrayed and resentful of the world he couldn't control. He's a foil to Tendo in that way, by being someone who is affected by the world while Tendo is someone who affects the world. It's all about control and freedom, which is something that Kusakabe doesn't have and that makes him feel similar to how Hiyori was feeling when Tendo was trying to force on her a life that wasn't whole. Befitting his aesthetic as a Dark Rider, Kusakabe is like a shadow of Tendo's past but he's stuck there and can't escape or move on.