[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also, I’m surprised you didn’t recognise this week’s contractor, considering you could tell episode 3’s was Sid.

Kasumi's dad? I barely got a good look at him. I'll have to keep a closer eye on him in the next part. Thanks for the tip!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

As Androzani pointed out, this is one of the (vanishingly few) episodes of Den-O written by its singular guest writer, Shouji Yonemura, though it's worth noting that Kobayashi is still credited as the dialogue editor for all of his episodes, something pretty unusual for Rider that I think speaks to how much this show values its tight banter.

This is also another episode that's having some fun with its title, as in Japanese it's "Bousou・Mousou・Kasumisou".

Yeah, the banter. I... I think it may be too much fun, sometimes?

Like (and I know it's unfair to tag a show for the guest writer's work), the plot on this story is pretty thin. For a mystery story, it's super lazy about maintaining a sense of peril, and the ostensible victim elicits almost no sympathy.

But the show just springs to life when it's everyone hanging out on the DenLiner, and that's a problem I'm seeing more and more of on this show? With a growing cast of unique personalities, just checking in with them can eat up time. When you're also having a blast writing series-defining comedic bits for them, it doesn't leave you a lot of canvas to build out a solid mystery or monster plot.

I mean, what's here is still good enough, and it's miles better than some previous A Monster Shows Up Out Of Nowhere For No Discernable Reason To Do Murders plots, but I feel like I can already see the writer(s) choosing to spend more time on the fun hangout stuff, and less on the structural elements for a story.

I'm probably not explaining this great (it's early, and some impatient customer sent a 4am email that pissed me off when I woke up and saw it), but it feels like the show is prioritizing the instantly enjoyable hangout stuff over the hard work of creating compelling two-episode stories for that comedy to exist in.