[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 15-16:

Another trip into the Inoue Zone brings us a new Rider who thinks he's as cool as Raia, but is really just some boring Gai. I think he's my least favorite Rider in the show, but that's mostly by default. Like everyone in Ryuki, he at least looks cool, and his character is the kind that's fun to hate, even if he's already about to have major competition in that department.

Everything I said about Inoue's version of this show from his last set of episodes still applies here. Shinji is way more ineffectual than usual (which is fine because the story here isn't focused on him), the comedy is really strong, and I've also noticed the ORE Journal crew seems to get more attention when he's writing, so I definitely can't complain. He also handles Raia really well here, even if I can't help but find it weird how his idea of stopping the Rider War currently amounts to stalking Ren everywhere he goes. As with some of the other plot points in Ryuki so far, it's a little... bold, to put it politely, but the development Ren gets as a result of it is more than worth the slightly odd setup. My boy Tezuka also gets to finally meet Shinji here, forming one of the most legendary teams in all of Kamen Rider as far as I'm concerned.

Also, and I preemptively apologize for still being hung up on this, but I can't help but comment on how amazingly Inoue builds the chemistry between Raia and Gai during their first meeting here. You can just feel the tension as they barely acknowledge one another's presence. It really is love at first sight.

Den-O 15-16:

These episodes blew me away. As far as raw comedy is concerned, this is Den-O firing on all cylinders. The plot of a hostage scenario gone horribly off the rails is supremely compelling, and all the more so because it's not immediately clear what it has to do with the Imagin running amok. That's treated like a subplot for a huge chunk of the first episode, which on top of mixing up the formula significantly, further calls to attention how completely absurd everything happening is. If you wanna know what's so hilarious about Den-O, this is one to watch.



Nearly every single character in the show gets a chance to shine, too. It's an extremely impressive script all around, once again from Shouji Yonemura, although what I didn't notice back in episodes 11 and 12 is that Kobayashi is still credited with dialogue editing. It really goes to show how crucial her voice is to Den-O. So crucial, in fact, that these are actually the very last episodes by a guest writer. Yes, there were only four.

OOO 15-16:

Firstly, this is the now obligatory "season finale" arc Rider generally does now before going on break for New Year's, which means it's total madness. You've got all the villains trying to play one another, our heroes getting into fights, GataKiriBa making it's second and final appearance (it will be missed), a big CGI monster to go with that last thing, and somehow there's still time for Kamen Rider Birth's debut in there. And that's still not everything that happens!

Secondly, on the subject of villains, the Greed are to Rider baddies what Eiji is to Rider leads. They're like a million times more interesting than everyone else, and especially after guys like Evolt wore out their welcome for me, I find it easy to appreciate how much they have going on. Four villains, with four subtly different motivations, with four hugely different methods, with four wildly different kinds of Monsters of the Week, just so it's literally impossible to be bored watching this show.

And thirdly, it's always great seeing how much use the Ride Vendors get. Not only is it genius to have the hobo Rider rent a bike instead of owning one, the way they work means everyone's driving around on them constantly. Like I said about Blade, it's not all that uncommon for Heisei Rider shows to pretend everywhere is within walking distance of everywhere else, so it's nice whenever they don't.