[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 12 - "RUN TAROS!”




I've watched Kamen Rider Ryuki, a show where the entire premise of the series is generated by cartoonishly abusive parents. I've watched Kamen Rider Blade, a show where the female lead is crippled by guilt brought on by her father's actions. I've watched Kamen Rider Drive, a show that has a dad who is trapped in an iPad that is manipulating his son into global genocide/domination/it's been a while and I've forgotten what Banno's plan was. I started with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, a show with Brave's dad in it.

Is Kasumi's dad the worst dad in the franchise, though?

I mean, it's hard to say that anyone who purposely or accidentally causes a global catastrophe (Hipster Dad from Build, for example) doesn't have the slight edge over a diner owner who is needlessly martyring himself, but... this whole plot is so massively unnecessary! Kasumi's dad is intent on irrevocably tearing his family apart for very poor reasons! It's all incredibly stupid!

Like, the conflict in this is so forced that any emotional stakes or corresponding catharsis are more insulting than anything else. There's a germ of an idea about how to motivate someone without losing them, but Disowning Your Child Because You Love Her And Want Her To Succeed... it's way overshooting the mark of being supportive? I don't know that an 11-year old girl needs that kind of tough love? I'm pretty sure she could model (it's not like she's curing cancer!) and also be in her dad's life? He's not on a fishing boat somewhere out in the Pacific; I'm pretty sure they live in Tokyo? She can still go to castings? It's just going to be question marks until the end of this paragraph because I feel like no one involved in the production of this episode asked a single question they should've? About how ridiculous the motivation of Kasumi's dad is?

The rest of it was fine, though. Entertaining, but unfortunately tethered to a stupid, stupid plot. (How does the dad keep getting on these closed sets for a preteen model? Where is security? If he's just like I'm Her Dad, why doesn't she know he's the one leaving flowers? Why any of this?) The Kintaros stuff mirrors the dad's I Don't Know My Emotional Strength thing, where they're both well-meaning but accidentally destructive, but I just cared so little about Kasumi and her dad getting back together (he's the worst!) that I cringed every time Kintaros beat himself up about them being separated. It's very nice that Kintaros wants to repair a daddy/daughter relationship, I just don't want him to repair this one.

Still, hard to ever get too down on a Kintaros-lead excursion into problem-solving. It's still fun to watch the DenLiner crew rally around each other, where Momo and Ura only briefly delight in a possible future without Kin. They're all only slightly making each other miserable! They're basically a real family now!



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-I echo Momo's despair over there being no Sword Form this episode. I get that it's a Kin spotlight, but, man! Sword Form is the best form so far! Sucks to miss out on it!

-Despite his heroism being focused on the least-deserving parent imaginable (and I'm counting Kamen Rider Deadbeat Dad from Ex-Aid: True Ending!), it was adorable to watch Kintaros speed away from a monster fight to chase down Kasumi. It's the Big Dumb version of Ryotaro trying to give Tetsuo some closure in the premiere story, and it's just as winning. Just a great story choice, no matter what story it appears in.