[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 48 - “THE GALAXY OF YOUTH”\

Any finale that tries to put the villain into an emotional context with the rest of the cast is a winner for me, and Fourze’s maybe the best example. (Also: Saber, Ghost, Drive, maybe Kiva if you’re feeling generous.) Gamou was part of the same system as the kids, doing his part in their story, and that’s lovely to acknowledge. For all the ways the Zodiarts were using the KRC to power up, the KRC were learning and growing because of the Zodiarts. Everyone’s in the same space (sorry) in high school, for good or ill, and the struggles and conflicts help us learn who we want to be, and how we want to become that person. Gamou wasn’t some outside force of evil, he was a guy who helped them as part of their daily lives, even as he was doing it for the wrong reasons. From a top-level view, he was the leader of a celestial death cult that preyed on the youth entrusted to him, in order to reach the stars by obliterating a nation; from the KRC’s view, he was a misguided man who couldn’t see the value in the community his experiment accidentally fostered. The idea of imparting the same grace and forgiveness that the KRC would give to a student to the Chairman of the school, that’s something special.

Finally the AGHS as something led by Gamou as well as Gamou's motivation related to it is acknowledged here. Gamou thinks what would be good for humanity is them becoming Zodiarts, as he was baffled that Ran would discard her Zodiart power with the human shell before. Like Orphnochs in Smart Brain before, Gamou was still a social darwinist and thinks lowly of regular humans, so he disregards achievements that are done as humans like what the students can do due to studying there, but the KRC are convincing him about human potential, so that humans are good enough as what they're, with Gamou also realizing that forcing evolution can be bad with his body overloading at the end, again, like how Orphnochs have short lifespan. If Gamou has realized the errors of his ways by knowing that humans are fine enough as they're, and that he suffers the consequences of his evolution, what'd be the reason for Gamou to still want to see the Presenters via the KRC? He wanted to visit the Presenters to force evolution on humanity, which plan is abandoned now, settling to follow Rokuro's mindset in passing their creations to the next generation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kengo’s letter was very sweet, even if you knew that Kengo would 10000000% be appearing again in the episode. (I once again forgot how: Gamou saved him via Aquarius’s power, and Kengo just woke up at home and didn’t tell anyone.) I like the contents of the letter, and how it addressed all of the characters, even the ones you don’t associate with Kengo. I like him saying that the show forgot to do a major Kengo/Ryuusei story, which is a wasted opportunity; also, I think he outed JK? I like that he used his words from beyond the grave to rip on Yuuki’s normally-atrocious cooking. I like that it’s Kengo getting the final word on what everyone means to the show, because Kengo fought the hardest of anyone to become the guy who could get the final word on what everyone means to the show – his journey was the longest, and the hardest, and ended the saddest, because of what the KRC represented to him. I like him coming back in a redo of Episode 1, chiding Gentarou for having the gall to throw away a letter that someone put their heart into, because symmetry is always nice in a finale.

Dunno if it's about different sub, but in mine, he talked about JK where both of them hide their true feelings, but convinces JK that he's strong enough? Otherwise, guess it also can happen that, while usually, the main Riders are the moral compasses of the others, like how Gentaro convinces others to bury the hatchet with Ryusei, with Kengo being the one who got the angriest at Ryusei for his murder, here, Kengo convinces the KRC to not hate Gamou, his own murderer, while still stopping him, while also being the one to stop Gentaro for throwing his letter later. This should be clearly a change for Kengo character, of which you'd like if the characters stay true to their original character, for being influenced by the main Rider. Though, Gamou was never the utterly depraved type of villain (e.g. Isaka, Dr. Maki, Gai, Glion), which can be easy and expected for him to make peace with the main cast and got redemption.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The middle of the episode… again, it didn’t get in the way. Fourze was about kids and school and friendship, sure, but it was equally about the Sakamoto Stunt Show Spectacular, so we get some explosions and sick bike jumps at Kamen Rider Quarry, plus all the major upgrade suits for Fourze and Meteor. It’s a fight that doesn’t mean a ton to me story-wise – trying to give Meteor a moral victory over Leo in a final speech felt forced, but whatever – but it genuinely wouldn’t feel like the end of Fourze without a half-dozen form changes and too many explosions. I think of it as ceremonial, befitting the graduation theme.

I do feel that, as usual I guess for Fourze or many Kamen Rider series, the final fight is lacking, and though it may be satisfying for some, it doesn't feel much of a payoff for how early on, everyone was worried about how Gamou can be stopped, but the final fight just have both Leo and Sagitarius, who were completely invincible before (with Leo being able to beat both Fourze and Meteor in their final forms), got beaten straight up like regular MOTW by both Meteor and Fourze, even if there's a moral victory for Meteor in him having a drive to survive for his friends unlike Leo who is an empty shell other than serving Gamou. It's only the movies that put good showings for Fourze in his multiple Switch uses against Dustards, when it should be shown against the final boss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Regarding your Gamou and Tendo comparison, while they both have ambitions to be an ultimate example to others and are called the sun, Tendo is a true hero and wouldn't expect his satellites to sacrifice themselves for him. When he scorches, it's only when he knows somebody's ozone layer is strong enough to take it, which makes it a sign of his respect.

You aren't viewing Tsukasa the same way as this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

As a fan of the Rabbit Hatch, it certainly hurts to see it destroyed. A moon base isn't the kind of thing you can just rebuild when you no longer have a dimensional portal to get there. I'd say inviting Hayami was a terrible idea, but then, it was around that time that his Eye of Laplace had advanced enough to track other Horoscopes, which would include Gemini and Pisces, so maybe Rabbit Hatch would've been compromised no matter what. Don't even need to know where to find the gate when Tatsugami can use Virgo for teleportation.

Which is why, it's still unknown that what are the heroes supposed to do against villains who seem to reform, regardless if it's genuine or not, where it'd be inherently risky, thus it's better to just ditch them as the usually safest route. And that, while you might be biased for Gentaro's case, if it's not Gentaro doing this, do-gooder characters would be mocked and criticized as being naive and a proof that virtue is weakness if Gentaro and Hayami stuff happens to them.