[Switchblade]

I love it when Kamen Rider does genre homages/parodies. Nothing will ever touch the absolutely bonkers episodes where Kabuto became a wuxia movie centered around competitive cooking, but Fourze becoming a zombie horror movie for a couple of episodes was also pretty fun. I want to give some very special love to the scene where the class president is bundled up in bandages and an eye patch in a dark, creepy hospital. Bonus points for the characters wondering out loud why the hospital was so dark and creepy.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Fourze 39-40

Like I said last time, we are officially into the part of the show that I don't remember very well. At least, that's what I thought. I got about halfway through the first of these episodes and my long-term memory managed to start pulling the rest of the plot out of storage: the injured girlfriend, Taurus going crazy, JK an Gentarou dressing normally. I will admit that I forgot about the golf showdown, which is certainly one of the weirder moments in the arc, but I remembered a lot of the main beats. I'm curious to see how much this continues happening as I finish off this last block of episodes.

I liked these two, by the way. I tend to have a strong dislike for stories with authoritarian regimes and stories where the heroes get turned upon, but I like these episodes. Part of it is that it's Fourze, so even at it's darkest it's pretty goofy (Sugiura's main power as Taurus isn't brainwashing, it's a complete defiance of physics). I also just really like the emotional core of the story, culminated in the confrontation between Sugiura and the class president on the roof. You really feel bad for him when Virgo shows up and sucks him into that wormhole. Even knowing the plot twist that's coming up next episode, it's still pretty sad.

Speaking of things I forgot: Virgo transporting Nozoma away. Again, something that loses a lot of drama on the rewatch, but it's still a really well-played scene. I like this last part of the series for Nozoma, where she gets to stop being creepy and start being more insightful. Speaking of the KRC, I forgot how much Miu and Shun are barely in the show anymore. More than before I'm really wishing they'd just replaced them with the swimmer girl and her friend. Having those two graduate really makes it hard to keep them relevant to the plot.

I stand by my comments on the ending of Sugiura's arc: it was a really good moment and it sucks so much for him. At least they didn't go with the convenient amnesia to hide Gamou's identity again.