[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

But I do remember them a lot just on the merit of how weird the idea was. It was so surreal to have Shouichi put in that position all of a sudden. Like, the show has been teasing these little clues for half the run, and now it's basically stolen the lead character off the same page as you, and forced you to watch him basically go about his day, while you have no idea what he's doing or why, because you didn't learn all the truths when he did (which also made it not that surprising when it doesn't stick).

There're two big problems that I have with the conception of this story. (The execution is a whole other set of problems) It's an amazing, risky decision to have Shouichi get all of his memories back, and that'd be laudable... but then he immediately loses them again. For me, that's not, like, a partial success. That is trying something interesting and immediately negating it. That is worse than not trying something interesting. That is negative points. The other problem is that it just doesn't feel worthwhile to even give him his memories back? There's not some huge secret here that gets unraveled, even if only the audience is aware of it. It's not that Shouichi was secretly a scientist who designed the very tools the villains are using, or that he's secretly related to the villains. It's just, his sister had powers but she's dead now, and one of the villains was her fiance. It doesn't Change Everything Forever. It doesn't even change things two episodes later. The only person this entire story affects is Gills, and it would've happened even if Shouichi didn't have his memories. Gills died for this story's sins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This one, though. This is my favorite episode of the show. Yasuko Kobayashi is a treasure, but I don't need to tell you that, because you've seen OOO. Even in just that little span of 20-some minutes, the attention she gives to characterization shines. That bit at the end where Ryou's tough guy facade starts cracking after that kid shows him sympathy when he finds out Ryou is Gills? Too good, man, I tell ya'.

She's great! This episode was great! Looking over her CV, a) shocked to find out she did my favorite show, OOO, and my least favorite, Amazons, and b) I really think I'm going to watch Go-Busters at some point. I think that's going to be my first Sentai show. I love her writing (uh, mostly!), I like those designs, I'm going to need something new when I've finished off Heisei and caught up with Reiwa... yeah, I think Go-Busters is on the list now.