[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Maybe? It just feels like the point in the series where Ryotaro has to fend for himself more, graduating out of the Imagin fighting for him. It comes across as a little sudden to me, since so much of this story was built around Ryotaro respecting Yuuto's decision-making. It's a weird thread to tie into this one, but that's why it's there.

And with how Ryotaro deals with Yuuo by getting the aggression like just forcefully taking away the Zeronos card, and Ryotaro snarking the most at him, like Yuuto at first did to him.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 37 - “I BET MY FACE GIVES IT AWAY, DOESN’T IT?”

A lot of this episode is just reminding the audience of that aspect of Ryuta. We haven’t really seen this side since his early appearances, and most of his more recent uses have been as a kid brother to the other Imagin.

Yeah, Ryutaros is childish and selfish, and this is a real lesson to the audience to remind that just because someone fights against evil, doesn't mean they're exempt from negative traits, or that those can be overlooked. Other Imagins also didn't really change from their initial state, other than their affection to Ryotaro. But yeah, if you want big screw-ups like this, use your existing characters who are the most likely to create this, and don't turn characters who aren't like that as OOC by giving them more sudden dark traits for forced drama like this, which is sorry, something Inoue can do. And for Ryuta's side not being seen for this long, well, if people are put in a fight against evildoers, everyone will look noble because they're all against 1 threat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And then Kai shows up.

Den-Parado! I liked him. I always like happy villains, ones who are menacing because they’re so upbeat, not in spite of it. They seem more powerful for how they don’t take the heroes/society seriously, how it’s some game they’re playing on Easy Mode. (Sorry, he just reminds me so much of Parado!) Kai has that part down cold, as he’s constantly wondering if his smiling means he’s mad or not. He feels more inhuman than any threat the show has had before, with his absurd curiosity at how to be intimidating, or in his simultaneous vague disinterest and laser-like focus in getting Ruta to complete a task for him. He feels like the best possible Den-O villain: an exterior of humanity and an interior of unknowable malevolence, portrayed by spinning out emotions he doesn’t care to understand.

His interactions with Ryuta were great, especially the dance-off. It’s the perfect way to manipulate Ryuta at this point. He doesn’t feel like the DenLiner crew are taking his emotional needs seriously (Momo 100% is tired of playing along with this kid’s unrealistic obsession with Airi), and here’s Den-Parado, meeting him on his level, speaking his language, playing his game. It’s not about trying to control Ryuta, it’s about using Ryuta’s needs to manipulate him. It’s trying to craft a Win-Win that the DenLiner crew can’t seem to convince Ryuta of. Den-Parado is friendly without ever seeming like a friend, and I find that kind of villain addictive to watch.

This was the start of our push into the endgame, and as such it’s only really about introducing a new major villain. With that goal, it’s a huge success. Den-Parado gets me more psyched about escalating this show’s threat level than anything else they’ve tried. (They haven’t tried a lot!) Not even close to sure of where the story might be headed, but I’m glad it’s got this much momentum. Really fun plot-via-character-driven episode.

Ugh why you just don't use "Shouma Kai" as the nickname for him with Parado reference. Kai is literally the name of Parado's actor! OK like what has said above, S̶h̶o̶u̶m̶a̶ Kai is not that popular, he basically receives the same complaints that you give to the previous main villains of phase 1 (Kai is the main antagonist of Den-O), like being boring, flat, sudden, forced as a main antagonist role, etc. But by watching him I also expect for you to act against the "norm" to receive him well instead (right again), as I also got the Shouma Kai/Parado vibes from him. I've known about how being upbeat can be menacing, both in real life and fiction, where for the former, it's if someone malicious is all smiling and laughing by making fun or mistreating others, and for the latter, it's like kind of villains who engages in evil purely for its own sake. Others said he's an evil Ryotaro, but I also feel that he's Naomi if taken to the real extremes, of the upbeat demeanor is to show a dark trait like thriving over other's misfortune, but this one's pushed/carried over actual evil acts. S̶h̶o̶u̶m̶a̶ Kai is the leader of Imagins, so his interaction with Kai would be something bad boss type.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-When this show needs to get melancholy, it knows how to get there fast. Having a sunset training session with Ryotaro and Momo, where it’s fraught with this tension of impending dissolution (whether that’s The New Train Line or just the metatextual The Show Is Ending In A Few Months), it’s unbelievably bittersweet. It feels like a goodbye, almost. Momo’s making sure Ryotaro can keep being Den-O, even if he’s not around to see it. More than any villain intro or new setting, this scene is the announcement that we are entering our final batch of stories for Kamen Rider Den-O.

Well, the issue before was that Ryotaro can't be possessed anymore, but here, Momotaros can possess him to train Ryotaro in swordplay? Also, well, Ryotaro wasn't really a fighter at all, but teaching Ryotaro to properly fight, I think, is good if Ryotaro is against an enemy who is a skillful fighter, and schools someone who just relies on power in fight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

-Speaking of new settings! We don’t see a lot of the Train Stop (???), but its very existence feels compelling, simply because it’s a tactile new thing the show can have its characters interact with. There’s a frustrating amount of nebulous worldbuilding in this series, so I will absolutely applaud the series for showing a new thing and in the same episode saying Let’s Go To There. Yes! I am okay with the odd bit of immediate gratification, rather than five straight episodes of cryptic comments from Owner! It’s a pleasant change of pace!

You mean the station lol, that's the term for stopping trains. So what is the criteria for setting introduction that attracts you?