[Fish Sandwich]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Thank you for helping me pretend that the 36th episode of the Weird Train Kids Superhero Program, aka ToQger, was actually the 36th episode of Kamen Rider Den-O.

Well, it's no problem, really; ToQger's just such a grea—

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those ToQger empty calories

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

oh no

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Well...

っておい！

Well, putting that to one side for now, I don't think I have too much to add about Liner Form and episode 36 that hasn't been said by someone else already. Mainly that, following on from the Ghost comparisons with Climax Form's debut, it occurs to me that what Grateful and Mugen each symbolize in terms of the characters has a lot of parallels to Climax and Liner... which certainly accounts for Liner Form being one of my all-time favorite final forms.

The design has grown on me a ton over time (always loved the feather eyes and sword; the relatively understated body was an acquired taste), but, much like with Ghost, it's all about what it's doing narratively that makes me so attached to it.

(Okay, well in Mugen's case, it's both at once, which is why nothing will ever top it, but you get the idea.)

It's hard to say how much I really agree or disagree with your assessment of the episode, though. As evidenced by this...

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's hard to top Climax Form's debut, but then that's hardly a fair comparison anyway. This arc is more about being a new beginning than a conclusion to everything that's happened so far, so of course it's not going to tug at the heartstrings the same way. In just about every other sense, it's totally on the same level.

...it's very much a case where I think it makes more sense in the grander context of the show's narrative than as a standalone story, the way Climax Form's did so well. And since it's rooted so deeply in Den-O's very particular style of telling an overarching story – that we've established I really like and that you take issue with – there's probably not much sense in trying to argue that further right now. I rewatched this one on a whim after reading your post, and what I'd most like to say about it is actually just that Takeru Satoh is really freakin' good at playing Ryoutarou?

And, uh, speaking of the overarching plot and extremely talented actors with careers that went places after the show! How about that Kai? Don't think I can put my opinion on him any better than I did here:

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Kai took his sweet time getting here, but you watch him get into a dance-off with Ryutaros in his first episode and try telling me it was anything but worth the wait.

I'll leave the detailed actor trivia to someone else, though, and instead point out that 37/38 are more Tasaki episodes, which explains why I remember them looking so pretty.