[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

So get used to this asshole passive aggressively and aggressive aggressively insulting Asumu, because that's the Asumu portion of the show from here on out.

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Originally Posted by Mmicb0b

Kiriya is IMO the least likable character in the franchise because I can not see how in ANY Way shape or form you can argue he's a likable character and 90% of the second halfs problems can be traced back to him

I mean, Kiriya's basically Teenage Kusaka (without all of the violent tendencies, I hope!), and I thought Kusaka was a blast in Faiz. I think you can enjoy a performance/character without liking the character, and that balance is where Inoue's work lives for me.

Like, I think 30 did a really good job of still making Kiriya's introduction an Asumu story, you know? It's all about how Kiriya's presence affects Asumu, how it makes him feel like he's not cool enough, or it makes him wonder where his expertise lies.

Kiriya sucks, but he's awesome at being a character who sucks.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

And the new monster. Annoying noise aside, I love that it’s an active threat, as opposed to a passive one. And as if to show that the Kuuga guy is no longer steering the ship, his method of killing is totally imitation-free (what part of setting yourself on fire and jumping at people’s throats can be tried at home?) and yet it manages to be terrifying.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

The one thing I'll say is that more than Kiriya, I think the thing that most memorably sticks out to me that states "Inoue is here now" is by taking the show that was very low-key and laidback and had all its fights in natural forest-y areas... and then throwing a screaming burning dog wheel at a businessman.

I remember very distinctly wondering if I wouldn't notice the change in creative team, if maybe it was much more subtle how it changed and if people were overblowing it; but then the first few seconds of the episode had that and I was like "Oh. Hi Inoue."

The new monster was great, and, yeah, a huge departure from the previous monster formula. (Literally and figuratively!) I think the show did an okay job of trying to give a context for the new Monster Suit Makamou, but it's still a massive change from how the first 29 episodes did it.

I greatly prefer it, though. Having a guy in a suit for the Oni to fight, yes. I missed the tactile threat of monsters in this show, and the best Hibiki fights have been the ones where it's human-scaled. Very excited to see some weird new monster dog that turns into a flaming wheel and just randomly shows up to murder people.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

But it's so American!

Deep dish pizza is a prank that Chicago plays on tourists. It's not supposed to be something anyone actually eats.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Oh for sure, it feels a lot more like Hibiki Season 2 than a natural continuation from the previous episode. I think that if some of these plot points were planned in advance and integrated more effectively, it would be more of a whole story. But of course, the staff change was very turbulent and not a lot of effort was made to connect the 2 halves of the show. Similar to how I feel about EX-Aid after the Genm X arc.

I think the biggest change, narratively, is how we're shifting from the drama being an External thing to an Internal thing? These are no longer purely good people who are working together in a nice, friendly way. They're Inoue characters now, so they're going to frequently be petty, or rude, or mean, or lazy, or or or. Even the jokey Hibiki thread in this one has a beat where Ichiro and Hinaka play up their illness to get out of work. That's a dick move!

Had this been the way things were from the start... well, a lot of folks didn't seem to love Faiz, so I'm not sure the appraisal would've been that different. But I think there'd be less of a feeling that the characters Aren't Right, which can only help.