[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER GENMS: SMART BRAIN AND THE 1000% CRISIS



Tough one to talk about, honestly. It’s a special that’s half fan-service cameos (Ren, who is a footnote GENM president! Mari, as Smart Queen, for the absolute minimum amount of screen time before it’s a total bait-and-switch!) and half setup for a future special. Nothing gets resolved here, and what new information we’re given is all off-screen exposition. It’s a weird special, man.

I didn’t dislike it, though. The cameos 1000% worked on me (REN!!!), and I appreciate that there’s an attempt to build a larger narrative around assholes like Kuroto, and reformed-assholes like Gai. Having the new threat be an anti-Ark - a destructive AI designed around virtue instead of malice - is a great obstacle for humanity as a whole, and these scumbags (well, Gai’s just sort of annoying) in particular. Gai trying to bring together, like, a Justice League Of Pricks… that’s fun, and I’m eager to see where the story goes after this.

Which isn’t to say this special’s just rushing to the cliffhanger! The Ark-Thouser vs Genm Musou fight is pretty fun for a small-scale parking lot dust-up, and both suits are handsome. (Genm Musou just being Sephiroth is *chef’s kiss*.) All of Kuroboto’s antics - the staccato laugh, the jerky movements, how his clothes and hairstyle are the Good Guy versions from the beginning of Ex-Aid - are hilarious. This whole thing is basically calibrated entirely towards my sensibilities, so even as I’m like Shit Is That All, there’s a less critical part of my brain that is just lapping this all up. It’s dumb fun, but it is fun.

(Sadly, I don’t think I’m going to get to the Outsiders stuff real soon? It looks like there’s a Saber person in it, so it’s gonna have to wait until I finish that show early next year. I’ll try and swing back here to cover it then.)