[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Zatyme

The formulaic portion is more in hindsight and with future knowledge and yeah while Kabuto is the only series really like this in formatting this is the book for the 2nd phase of Rider shows starting with W and considering this is one of your final Heisei riders....

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I found the formula for the first arc pretty quickly. It's predictable but I think it's a convenient way to gather the characters gradually and dedicate focus to them before moving on to the next.

In summary, 2 episodes of the new Imagin's introduction followed by 2 episodes establishing the new status quo with that Imagin on Denliner.

Thinking about it more overnight... the formula isn't even really about the Imagin. It's about Form Changes.

It's the Kuuga/Agito thing of spending the first act introducing all the cool things the hero can do, the stuff he can turn himself into. Ryuki through Kabuto basically ditched Form Changes for Secondaries and Upgrades, and all of the storytelling went into different places. We didn't get a story where the hero discovered a new power that he'd need to master just in time to defeat the episode's conveniently-vulnerable monster, we got a story where some brand-new Rider rolled into town.

Den-O, though, is bringing back Form Changes, and that whole The First Third Of The Show Is About Form Changes would be the formula for nearly every Phase 2 show, on some level. (Not really for Gaim, which went back to the Secondaries and Upgrades style of storytelling.) Like, you can see how Den-O's success in portraying Form Changes becomes a template for W, for OOO, for Fourze, for Wizard, and so on. It's storytelling that generates out from the main hero, rather than being some new external introduction. That was how Kuuga and Agito did it; Den-O's twist is that each new Form Change has a personality!

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

I said I had some beef with this episode and boy do I have beef.

First off, the ending with the couple getting remarried. It just feels fairly unrealistic and a blatant attempt to make the ending “fully” happy. If they’d simply repaired their relationship, I’d be fine with it, but getting remarried? Now that kills suspension of disbelief a bit too much.

Second off, the is the debut of Rod Form’s battle song, which is a remix of Sword Form’s battle song. This brings me to my second issue with this show’s music. 90% of it is remixes. And I hate remixes. Covers? Fine. Re-recordings? Go ahead. But hearing the same song over and over again with different backing music gets really repetitive (which was my issue with the main soundtrack). Heck in an album full of remixes and re-recordings for Heisei’s 20th, Kuuga got a re-recording with a faster pace and better pronunciation of the English words, Ghost’s theme got an idol show-esque cover by the Kamen Rider Girls, even Time Judged All gets a minor lyrical change (from “why did we meet?” to “why did you leave me?”). But the Den-O theme? It sounds the same as always, and that’s not a compliment.

Sorry to hear you didn't like the new song!

As for Yuumi and Tomoya getting remarried... I don't know that they do? They're back as a couple, and they've got the necklaces that Tomoya made, but time'll tell if they can actually get married. They had one good afternoon, they're happy right now, Airi's rooting for them, but who knows what'll happen tomorrow? I think it's an ending that's supposed to be more hopeful than definite.