[Fish Sandwich]

Wow, this is Ghost as s***, isn't it? That's the thought I kept coming back to watching this one, and, for anyone who isn't familiar with my opinions on Ghost, I'm saying I loved this episode.

I think it's immediately apparent the show has the same writer and producer as Ghost especially because it's inheriting a lot of the flaws of Ghost's premiere, too. The story feels in a rush to get where it needs to be, and a lot of beats are kind of awkward when you take a second to think about them. The first thing we see Touma do is start talking to himself to give exposition. It's not spectacularly tight, natural plotting.

But there's also the same sense of humanity and exuberance here that I loved about Ghost. I love Touma's passion, and how the episode uses that to give things a nice throughline of him wanting to make kids happy, which, in contrast to the clunk elsewhere, is a very simple and smooth way to demonstrate his heroism. I really warmed up to Mei pretty much immediately because all her loud antics spring out of her being enthusiastic. I like that stuff. I like stories about people who seem excited to exist. Above all else, that's where Saber is going right for me straight from the starting line.

Stylistically, I like it, but man is it a lot to take in. I feel like I need to go back and watch the episode again to digest every little CM bumper, page-flippy finishing move, and all those little strings of Rider-Moji before I can make any real statements — and maybe that statement is damning in of itself — but at the very least, I always appreciate the work put in to give a series its own unique aesthetic. Nothing here was exactly unappealing to me; it's just not easy to get a handle on right away.

The action was solid and you can definitely see them trying new things. That little CG sequence was basically completely unnecessary and adding nothing to this episode, but you can tell from how relatively nice it looks (go look at any scene with a Time Mazine again if you disagree) that Toei is trying to push themselves with what they can do, and there will probably be some long-term benefits to scenes like that.

I might actually end up going back to rewatch this, and maybe point out more minor things I noticed, but for now, these are the broad strokes. I thought this was a fun premiere with a pretty irresistible energy, and at the end of the day, a hero in a cool suit fought a monster and brought a family together again. I'm watching Kamen Rider, and I'm happy.