[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 16 - “GOOD STANDS AGAINST EVIL”

I’m just a sucker for any Kamen Rider story where a monster’s defeated through art, either psychologically or physically. That this episode manages to do both – Gentarou teaches Motoyama that the point of art isn’t perfection, but connection; also, Fourze uses a Pen Switch to counteract Perseus’s Medusa gauntlet – makes it a winner just on those merits, but it also brings in the whole club for a rousing Christmastime adventure, AND show off a mysterious new Rider. Truly, this is a Santa-worthy haul for any Fourze viewer.

It's ironic that Perseus later got his left hand petrified by the Pen Switch after petrifying Gentaro's left hand first. Otherwise, the Pen Switch, which I know before from Climax Heroes, is bizzare as this episode points out that the pen is instead on the leg, rather than the hand. Relation to art, hands are associated with control, strength, and manipulation, but are also associated with art, expression, gentleness, peace, and so on. Feet are almost exclusively seen as symbols of authority and destruction, as well as submission to power, but Pen Switch is on the leg despite this. The Pen Switch being on the leg reminds me of a joke that only applies on my language, about an elementary school lesson in drawing isosceles triangle, which when literally translated from my language to english is "drawing triangle with legs".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Let’s start things off with the part I cared about the least: The mysterious new Rider who (I think?) goes unnamed for this appearance! It’s not that I don’t care about this comet-shaped hero, but I feel like we’ll get plenty of chances very soon to discuss his asteroid powers or whatever. His fight against Libra is good, but is also the typical Immediately Beats The Guy The Normal Rider Couldn’t secondary introduction, and that trope sort of wears on me a bit. It’s a combination of the Upgrade Form thing, where he’ll never be this powerful ever again, but also just the way it really gilds the lily of how unbelievably cool the new Rider is, by having him easily dispatch the guy who had (a one-handed, but still) Fourze on the ropes earlier in the episode. You make this guy look so cool, he actually becomes kind of uncool to me. Your mileage may vary on our new satellite-themed Rider!

Feels that the secondary debut still has equal share between him and Fourze, albeit it has Meteor fighting the stronger one in Libra. Meteor is established as a martial artist that is based-off Bruce Lee, using Jeet Kune Do, which in contrast to Gentaro insisting to prove that nothing is useless (though for this episode, he thought Pen Switch was useless at first), means about IIRC taking and combining what's useful in martial arts (hey, still an art! like below) and discard the useless ones. I feel that, though it's Bruce Lee stuff to make funny noises, it can feel that, likely due to KR's often, well I guess like art below, to me, mediocre choreography (I feel Geats and Gavv are those that meet my standards in fighting, and not all still), martial arts can seem to be just implemented as fighting stylishly, which may form the bad rep about it that it's inefficient, when martial arts is about learning to properly fight, not just throwing power around (like Thouser or Cronus), but to gain more fighting IQ in getting skills, techniques, and incredible defense. Albeit dunno if this stands out less due to Gentaro being also established fighter from the beginning of episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But that’s all a minor distraction from what’s otherwise a super-sold conclusion to a very sweet little story. I like how Motoyama’s problem is all internally-generated – no one forced him to be a perfectionist, or mocked his art – because that’s hilariously true about making art. You are your own worst critic, as the saying goes. Motoyama’s problem is born from his success, where he made something that connected with people, so he wanted to make something better, to connect more, but in doing so he focused too much on making his work flawless, so he forgot that its value was in what it evoked from others. Art can never be perfect, because art is just… it’s like the Fourze handshake. It only operates with multiple people, and the point of it is to convey your feelings. A bunch of kids aren’t looking for high art, they just want something that engages their imaginations and inspires them to make their own art in turn. (Like a weekend tokustasu show!) Motoyama got caught up in his desire to be Better At Art, and in doing so he robbed himself of the desire to make art. By getting out of his own way, and reducing the pressure down to letting the process determine the result rather than forcing the process to generate the result, he’s able to get back the joy his art once brought him and others. It’s a sweet story.

I wonder if there's more problem about this that isn't internally-generated, like how if art is turned into a job, something that many other people who excel in art may want (or maybe also the reason I don't want this path). Where if art is done in a job, it veers closer into forcing them to be perfect, at your superior's demands, and it has to make profit, thus it has to cater to the majority of the target audience, thus making it into a job can suck up the passion of an artist. Otherwise, it seems that for art, it's the opposite of be yourself talks, as in this discussion, it seems that art depends on others' reaction about it. While there can be kids who love the mediocre arts or Yuki's singing, there can be also those who do bash people's arts, of which, especially if it's majority (for example, perhaps, something like mediocre dancing in social media that got much exposure, but it's still how they express themselves), it can force people to change how they do their art to cater to them, if art is about connecting with people, where said art failed.