[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 17 - “IMPACT OF A METEOR”

A lot of it’s the way this episode’s constructed, kind of doing an Episode 1 riff, but entirely from Ryuusei’s perspective, and full of misapprehensions and bad-faith judgments. Ryuusei sees Gentarou’s need to be friends with everyone as a pathetic need for validation that results in an ineffective superhero, and he spends the episode cataloging everything that occurs as either wasteful or ridiculous. We’re walked through the basics of Fourze – Gen interacting with other students, the KRC meeting up, how the Switches work, Ohsugi being cartoonishly annoyed – but it’s constantly undercut by Ryuusei adding his reductive and dismissive two cents about how it all fits together for the characters and the show. It somehow manages to layer in his snide disapproval in a way that still preserves the brightness of the core concept – it’s judgment that always floats above the story enough to not interfere or derail it – while giving you his snarky eyeroll of a rebuttal.

It's Ryusei playing along to infiltrate, but didn't expect that turns out AGHS doesn't have a dress code, so Gentaro did nothing wrong by keeping his current outfit. Thus Ohsugi is just being mean to the students because he can, as his motto of how students and teachers shouldn't be friends. Ryusei's main difference to people like Kengo is that Ryusei puts up an act to others while hiding his disdain, while Kengo openly shows his disdain towards the surrounding people. Though I wonder if Kengo isn't made to accept friendship faster by ep. 12 and still act like how he was at the start, he can fill Ryusei's role in becoming a Rider (that fits with his weak constitution) that is focused on saving a loved one (his dad rather than his friend) and has conflict with the main Rider for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But this is still very much a Fourze episode, front to back. Ryuusei exists as this new piece, but it’s still the same puzzle. (I guess I like some puzzles?) But, y’know, it’s actually not the same puzzle, in ways that help push back on Ryuusei’s view of things. This is Episode 17, not Episode 1, and it shows throughout the episode. Ryuusei sees the nonsense in the cafeteria as a sign that Gentarou’s a clown, but it’s actually a sign that his desire to make friends has had a positive impact on the student body, transforming isolated cliques and disaffected students into vital, engaged members of the student body; it’s heroism, not narcissism. Ryuusei sees fair-weather friendship in the KRC, but the viewer sees hard-won camaraderie and the intense bond of months in the trenches against the Zodiarts. (Kengo defends Gentarou from Ryuusei's criticism, albeit in a typically backhanded way!) Ryuusei sees Kengo as the lynchpin of Fourze’s effectiveness, but he misses the inherent value of JK, of Miu, of Tomoko. (Tomoko, naturally, does not miss the value of the new Black Kamen Rider, who is not as a gothic as she might hope, but I think there’s still something there for her.) It’s a Fourze episode where a dedicated viewer gets a completely different experience than Ryuusei, and that makes Ryuusei’s running commentary so much more enjoyable than it might ordinarily be. This isn’t the Motoyama arc where Gen and Yuuki are extra Gen and Yuuki in order to explain a negative reaction; this is Ryuusei coming into Act 2 and thinking it’s Act 1, which isn’t worth his time.

It's ironic that there's a scene of Gentaro successfully making friends with most of the student bodies in school, contrasting ep. 1, thus he proves Yuki wrong about how schools need to be divided into groups, yet previously, there's a scene of people hiding their disdain for Gentaro, not only Ryusei and Sonoda for obvious reasons, but also Anko. It's indeed heroism to have Gentaro wanting and succeeding to give positive impact, of which while I agree of this being heroism, I do wonder about what defines heroism as some'd think kindness and being a good person doesn't equate heroism, that it's only reserved for high-stakes/risk situations or if they're self-sacrificing. It's typical for rival type characters to dismiss friendship, and they'd not acknowledge the value of others, they see other people as just burden. I guess it can be proven true in his eyes in JK being used as a hostage against Lynx. Kengo isn't wrong that Gentaro is indeed an idiot, he doesn't do well in academics. But his value is being a social expert in understanding others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I really liked this, too? I like the Meteor suit a lot, and how it communicates different ideas than the Fourze suit. Fourze’s a space shuttle: travel, exploration, teamwork. Meteor’s the solar system: isolation, emptiness, coldness, but still something that can be bright and warm if you find the right parts. They each feel like parts of the same concept, even as they approach it from different angles and at different scales. Meteor’s physicality is nicely unique from Fourze’s, as folks pointed out previously. He’s Bruce Lee smoothness and style, as opposed to Fourze’s brash exuberance. It makes Meteor feel like he’s outclassing Fourze without really doing much, and that fits Ryuusei’s disdain for Gentarou perfectly. (There’s also the disco soundtrack to Ryuusei’s Henshin, and I’ve never really liked it. I can’t find a way that it fits him! Maybe eventually! But right now I don’t like it! My headcanon is that he also doesn’t like it, but Tachibana refuses to change it.)

It can feel that Meteor's regular attack seems stronger than its Limit Break with him punching with huge Jupiter ball rather than just punching with blue energy. I often feel KR finishers are bland like this, only having attacks with energy effects, though dunno if this is about paying respect to the Showa Rider finishers. I also wished that Meteor's Rider Kick would be a literal meteor, perhaps something like Kiva to descend from a great height and making an AoE crater to the ground. I guess as a Kamen Rider Bruce Lee, Meteor vs Fourze is also about martial artist vs street fighter. The stereotype is also that martial artists are honorable while street fighters are more likely to fight dirty.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

The white and black contrast never goes out of style. Even the accents of Fourze's orange and Meteor's blue emphasize their conflict. Yet both of them are heroes, only with different priorities. Fourze is colorful and has a lot gimmicks, which he relies on his friends to help test and determine their compatibility, while Meteor looks minimalistic, he relies on his own strength and has a few moves that he has mastered. The Rider Systems are appropriate for their users.

Heroic yeah, but as with many other secondary Rider, Meteor's anti-heroic type as well. He's like Ren or Makoto where their motivation is to save their loved one, and while they generally beat up monsters and saving people, their priority is said loved ones, so they can be complicit in the continuation of a threat, like Ren wanting to learn to kill by freeing Asakura or Ryusei letting Lynx go and as pointed out, can still have Lynx threatening others.