[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Den-O is the show that shifted the monster attacks to being the A plot. There is a person, that person is being stalked by a monster, the Kamen Rider gets involved in that person's story. Anything else - ongoing storylines, character development, changes in the status quo - those all happen off in the B plot. I find that the Den-O style shows tend to feel more episodic (or maybe bi-episodic?) then shows like Faiz or Kabuto where it felt like more elements carried across multiple episodes. It's not necessarily a bad change, but I generally like having the show be a bit more serialized. At best, the case of the fortnight format can work really well, like it does in W. At worst, it can feel like important elements get sidelined for awhile, like that stretch of Fourze where Kengo almost disappears because the show wants to spend all of its limited B plot time on Ryusei.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Anyway, yeah, as Switchblade said, a whole lot of Rider shows would go on to crib Den-O's basic structure, and while I think I've made it abundantly clear by this point that I don't have an issue with the monster plots being... er, well, the bonus content in an episode, you might say, there's a cohesion to how Den-O handles things that I'm very much fond of.

Like, a huge part of how much I love Wizard is simply how much comfort I find in the whole Phantom/Gate routine, for very similar reasons to what you laid out here. I never got tired of this formula the way a lot of people did because it just works for me so darn well. I adore when a Kamen Rider's chief motivation for an episode is as humble as helping one person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I think reducing the story to B plot actually works in Den-O's favor. People generally don't renown Den-O for its story. There is a story, it's there and the show revolves around it. But most people come to Den-O for the Imagins, the comedy, the climaxes, the Ore Sanjous and the Ore No Hissatsu Waza Part Two!s, you know? Den-O is that kind of show. All the cool stuff happens in the action and the character interactions. Maybe that's why Den-O can easily fit in to crossovers since the content is kind of irrelevant as long as Imagins can do their thing.

I'm honestly all for the show downgrading the series-arc and various interpersonal subplots to the background. Maybe it's just a reaction to considering the monster plots somewhere between Unmemorable and A War Crime these last few shows, as well as several of the series-arc decisions feeling poorly motivated and/or distracting, but the concept of placing more emphasis on the parts of the shows that always always always work -- a group of heroes try to solve a problem for a stranger, who all approach it in a unique way -- that's just smart as hell plotting to me. That is a writer who looked at everything that dragged down great casts and compelling characters and said Less Of That. If the one reliable thing for the Kamen Rider franchise is a charismatic group of characters who are at their best when they're focused on helping someone... just make that the show! It's actually pretty obvious!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

The DenLiner’s battle mode: I can certainly see why a lot of people back in the day (and a few today) thought this show was too much more like Super Sentai than Kamen Rider. Along with a few other things (for now, they only thing I’ll call attention to is the bad guys being suit-only characters voiced by Anime VAs).

I mean, it feels pretty Sentai to me. I've never been crazy about the big vehicles and the mechs in Kamen Rider (Captain Ghost is not my friend!), so Den-Liner's battle mode is probably never going to be something I single out for praise.