[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 34 - “THE PIANIST OF TIME”

I swear to god, I feel like this show is trolling me. Not a day after I write a whole bunch about how excited I was for the new Yuuto/Kohana team, and how excited I was to see some real movement on their shared dilemma, HA GODDAMN HA, I get this episode. It’s one where Kohana and Yuuto share (if memory serves) absolutely zero screentime, and where their shared dilemma is addressed with, to quote Reverend Lovejoy, “short answer ‘yes’ with an ‘if’, long answer ‘no’ with a ‘but’.” Literally everything I loved about last episode got chucked out the window, and what I’m left with… well.

IIRC, the last one about Yuuto/Kohana was about Kohana being treated like a little child (obviously) by Yuuto like when he carries her while she's smacking him along the way to not treat her like a child. Like others said, Kohana's antic being funnier than Hana comes from a fact where Kohana was more of a comic relief compared to Hana, and this treatment continues in the DenLiner where Kohana gets subjected into bubbles and a bit of a payback from the Taros Imagin. Feels deja vu into Sieg's powers turning Imagins small, which is now happening to princess instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I liked the ending? There’s a sweetly pure idea about memories being both sacred and illusory. The idea that forgetting people can be like a death, but that we remember things we’ve forgotten all the time. No one’s ever really gone, as long as we’re quoting prolific voice actors. Someone can disappear for ten years, and then rekindle a connection to the world in an afternoon. It doesn’t take a lot. It’s a tragedy, to be forgotten. But it’s not really fatal, not really the end. If we stay true to ourselves, and reach back when someone reaches for us, it can all work out.

And there's literally erasing any record and history about certain someone, called un-person. And there's certain ends in a series that is about erasing that person's memories from everyone else, or also the starts of their journey where that person is pissed off that nobody knows who they are, especially if they have fame/infamy previously. Seems that there shows the consequences of how forgetting people can be like a death. D̶u̶n̶n̶o̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶,̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶i̶c̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶a̶p̶p̶e̶a̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶,̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶c̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶,̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶,̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶S̶h̶i̶r̶a̶t̶o̶r̶i̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶?̶ ̶K̶o̶h̶a̶n̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶t̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶I̶n̶s̶t̶a̶g̶r̶a̶m̶.̶

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Some of it is because, like a lot of problems I end up having with Den-O, it takes forever to explain what the hell is really happening in the story, and then it rushes through the exposition because there’s no time left for subtlety. Every flashback scene with Piano Man and Coma Man was, honestly, pretty abysmally acted and written. The dialogue is just this guy shouting all of his thoughts at a stranger, and the performance is him SHOUTING ALL OF HIS EMOTIONS. It reads as nearly psychotic, instead of as two kindred spirits finding a connection. And that accident scene! I was not meant to laugh at it, I’m pretty sure? But, man, come on. Coma Man dashes in front of an oncoming car like he’s secretly two dogs standing on each other’s shoulders and wearing a sport coat. It’s a ridiculous moment, and it nearly sunk this story for me.

I've seen about your post before regarding acting this way to a stranger, like one of the Ghost's victim of the week. But this is more about how the acting is inappropriate for opening up to a stranger rather than the act of opening up to a stranger right? Because the staple of ideal hero like most of the main Riders in KR series is how they'll extend a hand to even strangers that need help (oh well, this one's the coma man asking for help to the piano man). Otherwise would quite agree that while those 2's relationship is already established, the beginning scene feels off to have someone dump down all the piano and life issues he have, like it feels the story to rush out what's that character about. But this scene probably proves that acting isn't only about throwing all your emotions, for those who cry out about characters showing lack of emotion. I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶i̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶N̶a̶o̶m̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶h̶u̶s̶i̶a̶s̶m̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶v̶i̶o̶l̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶a̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶.̶

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The regular cast is weirdly deployed in this one, with special disappointment for how unintegral Kohana is. There’s a scene where the DenLiner crew reacts to her new form, which was funny, but she’s largely irrelevant to the Imaginvestigation. She doesn’t do anything that helps Den-O save the day, and she disappears from the plot about halfway through. Her aside, it’s really just some Urataros smooth-talking (one scene?) and a little bit of Deneb possessing Yuuto to keep things lively. The rest of the episode is a lot of piano playing, and not much story.

Well yeah a good chunk of Den-O's comedy is about the craziness that happens in a DenLiner, so it can be more of a daily stuff rather than the part of the IOTW journey. What she did was driving away Urataros, like usual, from going too far, in this case, flirting with a nurse. I guess about DenLiner crew reacting to her new form, Kohana will have a new issue about her not being taken seriously as a child, probably worth knowing about how others in Imaginvestigation will react to her trying to help Riders save the day. Deneb again tries to make Yuuto on good terms with the others but Yuuto still doesn't take it well, he hasn't completely shedding away his negative traits yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Mostly didn’t care about the fight at the end of this one (the Imagin has, like, an army inside him why?), but I’m pretty sure that office building got used in a good Ryuki and/or Blade story for a fight. That is, uh, that is how into this episode I was: fondly half-remembering Blade and Ryuki fight scenes.

But this is something already established before, that Imagins can go out of control and go apeshit with stronger form, a la Ex-Aid's Bugster Union form. Something new I got that is worth attention was the train collaboration and circling to end the biggest threat yet.