[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's something I'd love to watch again and reevaluate one of these days, now that I put way more thought into these things, but unless something in here seriously spurs me to watch along, I don't think I'll be doing that quite yet.

You know, it's hard to deny my contrarian streak when I feel the need to argue against myself the second I commit an idea to writing. I'm still not entirely sure I'll have the time to keep this up, which was the reason I wasn't already taking this thread as a sign the time is right. But, if the show keeps my interest, and I can balance my free time well enough, Fish Sandwich Also Watches Kabuto might just become a recurring feature in this thread. Again, we'll see.

For now though, this premiere reminds me a lot of everything I remember feeling about Kabuto. Which is somewhat unfortunately largely down to overall bits of the setting and production rather than anything in the story. I was going to have to say this at some point anyway, but, first of all, oh my gosh do I ever love Kabuto's opening. Next Level is quite the jam and I love it too, but I mean, you could mute it and the visuals would still be some of the coolest and flashiest in the franchise. There's not a shot in there I don't adore, even the ones that don't signify all that much. Ryuuta Tasaki is credited with タイトルバック, which I think means he's responsible for all that silky smooth imagery, but Rider credits aren't totally consistent with the way openings are handled. Hibiki used "OP・演出", for example. Whoever I have to thank for that glorious montage of melodrama, they did a great job.

I've also always loved ZECTroopers as a concept; they're pretty much the perfect heroic grunts to get slaughtered by the boatload, with designs that almost look like Riders, but without any of the flashy colors and with a weapon that's way too unwieldy looking to inspire much confidence. I have a similar appreciation for the pupa Worms. Kabuto's monsters have the same designer as the Undead from Blade, and it's these bulky little guys in particular where I feel that same creepy weirdness shines through the most, with the faces covered up by tiny secondary arms as part of the disturbing, vaguely human skeleton shaped design on their torsos. I might go so far as to call them one of the best Rider monsters ever?

And I say all this stuff so passionately, but then when it comes to the episode proper, I still feel sort of detached from it? The word that comes to mind for the whole thing is "heavy". There's a sense they were trying to add a huge sense of weight to everything from the action, to the dialogue, to the music, with Kabuto's percussive motif. On an analytical level, I think it's all executed great, but I didn't vibe with any of it all that much.

The best example to give is Tendou's introductory scene, which is one of the best any Rider hero has ever gotten. It's so memorable! It's so strange! The contrast it sets up with Kagami is so amazing! ...but again, it doesn't really make me smile or laugh or anything particularly visceral, then or now. Oh, and, while I'm on the topic, since the lack of a TV-Nihon translation note might obscure this: the whole point of Tendou's speech is that "Tendou Souji" literally means "path of heaven, ruler of all". You can uh, kinda tell he was raised to think highly of himself, can't ya? It's something about his character I really love as a concept; the tagline for the show was even "I am justice", which has always been one of my favorites for how blunt it is, sounding straightforward at a glance but actually deeply reflecting what makes Kabuto different than his predecessors.

And again, I love all that as a concept. It's an odd feeling trying to say nice things about Kabuto and ending up talking around it instead. Hopefully if I keep up watching along I'll be able to get to the bottom of my strange relationship with this show. For the record, I had a good time with the episode! Usually when I say that it's redundant, but here it might genuinely be hard to tell! I called Kabuto my least favorite "by default" because I've yet to come across a Rider show I don't enjoy to some extent.