[Switchblade]

And the whatever the Japanese equivalent of a Daytime Emmy goes to... not Shun. I remembered that we basically got the equivalent of Emilio Estevez's character arc in The Breakfast Club for Shun here, but I forgot just how over the top the acting was. I know that Kamen Rider isn't exactly hiring the best young actors in Japan (except for the all the time it ends up doing that by accident), but man did Shun's actor go to town devouring the scenery in this one.

I still think it works as a good transition for the character into being part of the gang, though, and the Power Dizer handshake is fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Fourze 7-8:

This arc in two words? Bad Boooy!

So I'm a bad Kamen Rider fan for forgetting that the detention teacher was Alternative Zero from Ryuki. That one's on me. He's still great, though, and his catchphrase is one of the weird minor pieces of the show that's stuck with me over the years. There were a lot of returning actors from older Rider shows during the opening arcs on Fourze, which was something I really loved about these episodes. The show didn't keep it up in the long run, but it was fun seeing minor actors like this again. I'll be seeing more in the next arc, which brings back Amane from Blade as the next Zodiart.

The big focus here, of course, is getting Shun on the team. It still seems like a big push given how much of a dick he's been up to this point, but never underestimate the power of daddy issues. We're going to be seeing more of the Power Dizer from now on, too. It's kind of weird; despite mechs being more of a Sentai thing, there have been a lot of Rider shows in recent years that have dipped their toes in that water, too. I don't think any of them ever worked as well as the Power Dizer, though - mostly because the others were either largely abandoned because of the CGI costs or because they were monumentally stupid like the pirate ship igauna from Ghost.

This was another good pair of episodes and the characters still really shine. I am constantly amazed at how I could have forgotten just how much fun Gentaro is. I'm really happy that I'm rewatching this show.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? We're getting some early signs. Things were mostly normal for 95% of these episodes, but then we saw what she did to get detention. I generally chalk her Hayabusa costume in the Queen pageant up to being awkward and nerdy, but trying to plant giant space books in the library while wearing a plush shuttle on her head? Yeah, this is more like the Yuki I remember.