[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I agree that Yaguruma trying to look cool in front of his underlings isn't heroic. I don't think it's intended to be, and I don't think I ever said it was? It's selfish and petty, but, like, so is Yaguruma. I'd disagree that him entering the fight is due to some higher morality, though. His beef was more of a payback thing?

Ok, this comes from here:

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So much of the second half of this episode, it’s like the fan-service version of heroism. It feels like there’s no way there could be five more episodes, because everyone in this one is at Maximum Rider Power. Tendou is giving speeches to Hiyori to welcome her home. Kagami is holding off an entire army by withstanding non-stop attacks. Tsurugi is seeing Misaki as a person, not just as an ideal. Kageyama becomes TheWorst again, just long enough to embarrass himself. And Yaguruma remembers that Looking Cool In Front Of His Underlings is his main motivation for doing literally anything ever.

This paragraph talks about how this is a list of fan-service version of heroism, and you lumped Yaguruma here, with you saying he remembers that looking cool in front of his underlings as motivation, which makes me think you think making yourself look cool is heroic act...

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Okay! Sometimes there are jokes!

Yeah, but I'm making sure that you know. I won't bring up about this if it's something that you already know and acknowledged, and you intend to make joke of it, like Kageyama as TheWorst for his behaviors, or something new here that I find smart and hilarious while also already knowing Kageyama's whole identity the whole time; Kageyessir. Still though, Souji Kusakabe as a name is probably more meaningful than what people here think, and I want to convey that (roots from what you review about him in ep. 43 though):

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I forgot to address this, but you said before that Souji Kusakabe had childlike innocence right? I think that's done on purpose, Souji Kusakabe name is meaningful to him here, he represents the child version of Tendou but put in an adult Tendou's body, and teen/adult Souji is only Souji Tendou, as he's already adopted by Tendou family, but Souji was originally Souji Kusakabe as a child before he lost his family and is adopted by the Tendous, which means he's dubbed as Souji Kusakabe as he's literal separate child version of Souji Tendou, but taken to the path of villainy, due to his nature which is a spoiler. But being figuratively present-child Tendou, of course he would deeply care and be protective towards Hiyori too (with you saying he's suddenly devoted to Hiyori, which Tendou also kinda like that when they met?), and it's shown like Hiyori's flashback where child Souji cries out for Hiyori, Souji Kusakabe would express his devotion to Hiyori more openly just like child Tendou in that flashback.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 45

I mean, holy shit, Inoue has officially zero interest in addressing the Hiyori cliffhanger from last time.

Well, she blames himself due to her being weak refers to her being attacked by others like Souji Kusakabe here, and her not being strong enough to fight back, refering to protective Tendou part of him. And with how protective Tendou is to her, I don't think that Tendou will give pushback, he's likely content to act as Hiyori's protector, and it's probably not behavior that will make changes for here, as Hiyori blaming herself for being weak is likely about Dark Kabuto attack, the one that is about power as it's a Rider against someone who at least in human form doesn't possess strength (KOed by Kageyama in human form)?

And Dark Kabuto, shows the consequence of love in the worst way of him actually putting what Tendou threatened Kagami for before to actual work (destroy all living beings for Hiyori), which is why I judge character's morality more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them like strangers or civilians, I think caring about friends and/or family (the latter for Souji Kusakabe) won't necessarily cut it (if they would care, apathetic, or cruel to others; overall).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Worms are every-goddamn-where in this episode, so it’s no surprise that Tendou is trying to corral every active Rider to assist him. We even get to see a troublingly mute Drake amongst the all-hands-on-deck Rider vs Worm combat, and I knew the second we saw that suit that we would 1000% not be seeing Daisuke in this episode. Knew it in my bones. The plot behind these attacks is somewhat typical Inoue, i.e. he doesn’t really care about it. The Worms are just everywhere, and there isn’t really a strategy to be found between them or ZECT. Tendou’s desire to bolster ZECT’s ranks is literally the only thing in this episode where someone is trying to solve this problem, and it makes me wonder what the shit the rest of ZECT is even for.

Well yeah sorry for the objection, and I know you said you don't care about this part, but if you claim that you want to be fair, then for this part, random Worm assault is only typical Inoue, but for another part, Worm assault is whatthemotivesbetweenwormattacks, that's double standard? And like from before Tendou is more open about teamwork now, with him more openly accepting Kagami before. The Worm being everywhere is again, Cassis Worm's work.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But, like, I don’t care about any of that! Even a little! It is objectively a deficiency in this script, but I don’t begrudge this story its disinterest in Worm warfare because the Tsurugi and Misaki stuff is so goddamn great.

OK, like what this episode pointed out, Misaki doesn't seem to find Tsurugi changed at all, but she warmed up to him regarding that (though I think the main reason of this is from Tsurugi's genuine love for her in ep. 44 for shielding her to near death), even declaring "Misakinu" is ok, soo... could it be that, it's not Tsurugi's fault for him having lack of boundaries and that to put them on equal status which you're interested more, it's Misaki that needs to change and realize that Tsurugi's behavior is appealing? I know that previously, following Tendou's advice, Tsurugi changes to see Misaki not as his sister, and also properly understanding her more by calling her Misaki, but this part seems to go back to the status quo (one of them inflicted by Misaki herself); he calls her Misakinu again, and he also went overboard in ZECT control that it's only to devote to Misaki alone, which has an objectifying vibe too.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Oh, and there’s also a plot where Yaguruma is so mad at himself for helping out last episode that he chains himself up, leading Kageyessir to do the exact same stupid thing. It leads to, bar none, my favorite moment in the entire series, which is Tendou taking one look at their chained-up torsos and Noping right the hell out of recruiting them. It is, possibly, the final punctuation on how this show is committed to the Hoppers as comedy relief. I barely even understand what Yaguruma’s going for, other than Attention, but knowing him, I think I just answered my own question. It’s such a dumb plot, and it definitely is not interested in making these two look cool, but I loved it.

Lol yeah, bonkers stuff, Yaguruma unconsciously trying to seek light again, and now he realizes that he's an antisocial nihilist and acts on it by sealing himself so that he won't act "stupid" again (seeking light like fighting monsters), with the influence of Kageyama himself before, but Kageyama at this time also follows suit to him. What I want to see was that, as a gag, is that sealing himself is giving himself too much burden and it prevents him from doing any activities instead of just "stupid" stuff.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

Although, honestly, felt like Tsurugi and Renge were going to end up together! Great chemistry, those two. Anyway, it’s a Christmas episode for the ol’ Kamen Riders, and back on Christmas (in 2020) I asked what gift you’d give a Rider, and why. Let me switch it around this time. Which Rider do you think would give the best Christmas present, and why?

Not counting for how willing they will give you a present, those that will give the best Christmas present is probably Tendou, because he's perfect and the textbook ace, he excels at everything he does beyond the level of professional. Tsurugi is broke now but probably would put faith in him too for what he does, like the luxury bed scene in Bistro La Salle, or his capabilities and luxury vibe like what he gave to Kagami (his house at least).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's something Inoue tries and fails to bring up in this episode, where Misaki wonders what the difference even is between Worms and humanity. Tadokoro basically says he doesn't know, and that grey area is where Inoue usually operates with his sympathetic monsters. I'm not sure I'm onboard with a read where Tsurugi deserved to die? He was capable of heroism, of sacrifice, of humor, of grace, of friendship, of love. He wasn't some irredeemable monster who was only a shadow of memory. He didn't deserve to die.

I agree too that Tsurugi isn't irredeemable and he deserved to live, that you can't dish excessive punishments blindly to anyone that has negative traits (Tsurugi has redeeming qualities as you listed there, although 50/50 for humor part, if he hurts others and don't care about it, then that shouldn't be given free pass due to "humor"), that's just being self-righteous knight templar move, and that to not differentiate between species here where monsters should die and humans should live, no matter which alignments, but still, I wonder, who actually deserves to die?

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

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".

In reality, Inoue with leash put on by the TV production team. So with Inoue there the TV production team doesn't deserve to be acknowledged and deserved to be dehumanized and treated as just his lowly pawns?! Jokes aside, anyone should practice wise discernment though, like regarding him when unrestrained.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

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.

Well, I always bring up tragic backstory in part before, and my point is that some people think if they got tragic backstory, then that villain is completely innocent (you can do whatever you want because of the bad things that happened to them). Also, there are also many who has tragic backstory, but doesn't turn evil, or even better, the root of their kindness. Becoming cold, indifferent, merciless, ruthless is actually a failure against trauma, as well as a poor way to cope with trauma, where people claim it's the only realistic way (and to justify the villainous acts) to process it, but overlook the other way around which exists. Also, it's both figuratively and literally for Kusakabe being a shadow of Tendou's past, it's literally his past, former name when he was a child, before he got adopted by the Tendous, like what I said above, though him being a villain is also probably due to his true nature, which is a spoiler to talk about.