[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'm trying to give Kai a reappraisal this time through, mostly because of Ultraman Orb. In the past I was always put off by his over-bearing goofiness, but it isn't bothering me as much this time. It's possible that some of the more contemporary comic relief has increased my tolerance, but so far I'm getting into him a lot more. The "what does my face look like" thing still gets kinda old, but I'm having more fun with viewing him as more of a puckish villain. I got a big charge out of him just randomly showing up while Ryotaro is just walking around. Also, I have to give him real props for having the cojones to say "Hey, this is a time travel show! Let's just kill Yuuto in the past to prove a point!"

I just love the idea of Ryotaro, who is not great at showing emotion, having an opposite number who can't tell what emotion he's showing. I love that twist so much.

But, yeah, Den-Parado is a dude who feels like a legitimate culmination of this story, even if it's not exactly the direction the show seemed like it was going in. (The idea of someone being in charge of the Imagin literally never comes up once until Kai appears! It's not even really teased except possibly for Ryutaros's debut, if memory serves.) He's saying things about emotional stability, about consequences, about memory, and he's doing it all with a physical presence that can both threaten and be threatened. I like what he's adding to this show!

...unless what he's adding is the new version of the theme song, which I hate.