[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'm one of the weirdos who likes The Next more. I have a lot of issues with The First's pacing and all the time spent on the sick kids subplot. The Next is really weird, but narratively tighter. Honestly, I feel like both are cases of Inoue wanting to branch out and do something different, but Toei telling him "No, you have to write Kamen Rider." So he just wrote a romance drama that also happened to have some Kamen Riding in it and a Ringu-style J-Horror that also happened to have some Kamen Riding in it.

Either way, the suits are goddamn fantastic and I'm really bummed that we never got to see updates to the other OG Showa Riders. The movies were weird, but I would have been totally down for Kamen Rider The X, Kamen Rider The Stronger, or Kamen Rider The Man.

I guess we must both be weirdos then since I also prefer The Next. The pacing is never too slow and the horror and mystery keeps me intrigued for the whole movie in a way that only a guy like Inoue can manage. There's also Hopper 1's green Sakurajima suit which I prefer to the teal version.

It would have been cool to see "The Stronger" upgrade Tackle from sidekick to Kamen Rider Tackle and I was excited for "The Man" to happen in Amazons after Kazuya got his right arm eaten, that's the perfect origin story for a Riderman and I thought that was a missed opportunity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 15

Hoo boy, is this the first part of a two-parter. I hope you like mysterious motivations and a bunch of twists, because that’s what you’re getting in this one. Almost impossible to talk about, because some very key things (whatever the deal is with the Worm, Tendou joining ZECT) are left for the next episode to explain and justify. What’s here are some very funny gags, and a lot of Kagami. That’s not bad, but it means that I can’t exactly break this episode down as much as I’d like.

I really did like this episode, though, and mostly for its focus on Kagami. It’s an episode that reframes the previous story as Kagami hitting a self-respect rock bottom, and asks how to best help someone who has lost all of their confidence.

Like, it treats the previous (incredibly stupid) ZECT plot as Kagami's breaking point; where the old, weak Kagami needs to figure out how to be strong enough to keep from being victimized again. It suggests that Kagami’s ego is something worth protecting, that his confidence has value. He’s been kicked around a lot, and his very life was just treated as a joke. He needs to find some way to prove he can cut it in the fast-paced world of monster detonation, and a solo Worm hunt might be just the way to do that.

Although, no, he’s not doing it solo. It’s a story that’s as much about how we support our friends as it is about how we move on from failure, so we definitely need to spend some time on how the rest of the cast is assisting Kagami.

Tendou loudly and repeatedly proclaims that he will not be helping Kagami… so, of course, Tendou ends up shadowing Kagami the entire episode. I actually really like how subtle (for an Inoue value of Subtle) the episode is with Tendou’s support. Misaki’s all like Hey We All Need To Cheer Up Kagami and Tendou’s like Cool So We’re Just Coddling Him Like A Baby Got It. Public displays of friendship are currently not in Tendou’s skillset, so it’s not like he was really going to be much emotional support for Kagami. But it’s more than that, I think. It’s Tendou viewing Kagami’s recent failure in the same light as Kagami’s dad, and drawing the same conclusion: The only way Kagami gets stronger is by dealing with his failure directly, and trying harder in the future. Giving him an easy win by tagging along on his Worm hunt would just reinforce how much he feels like a pawn, a sidekick. Making him stand on his own two feet and go out and get a win by himself, that’s how he starts to feel more confident. But, like, Tendou 100% cares about Kagami, and wants him to succeed, so he stays in the shadows (if you’ll pardon the pun) to make sure Kagami gets his win.

Misaki, however, is coming at Kagami’s crisis from the opposite angle.

She believes in Kagami, but also thinks he’s biting off more than he can chew. He shouldn’t have to go get a solo win, because that’s not his job. His job is to work with a partner like Misaki, to be a part of a team that doesn’t put themselves at risk unnecessarily. In a way, I think she takes Kagami’s emotional crisis as a reflection on her, on her inability to protect him in the last story. She let him get put in danger, and she doesn’t want it to happen again. He doesn’t need to go out and save the world himself, he needs to trust in his team to protect him. He didn’t let himself down, ZECT let him down.

Kagami's problem seems to be a continuation of his personal development arc from Episode 4 and 10. Tendo wants him to be more independent and make the difficult decisions and now that Kagami is committed to being Tendo's friend over The Bee, he wants to prove himself worthy of that friendship and that he's not just using Tendo as a safety net for his potential failures as a flawed human being. His choice to give up being a Kamen Rider means he's more suitable for being a Kamen Rider since he has an admirable devotion to his principles that sets him apart from posers like Yaguruma and unscrupulous people like Kageyama. Tendo doesn't want to diminish that by interfering in his development.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

I’m not sure how probing or introspective I want these questions to get, but this episode got me thinking about friendship, and about emotional support. It’s so tricky sometimes, to know the best way to help our friends out when they’re having a tough time. I think both Tendou and Misaki are right about what someone might need to feel better, even if they both might not be right about what Kagami needs. So, and feel free to skip this if it’s way too baring of the emotions, but how would you prefer your friends help you when you’re feeling bad about yourself: by being there for you, or by leaving you alone? I’m definitely more the type to just need some time alone to reset, so maybe Tendou’s distance would be what I’m looking for. I’m sure I’d regret experiencing his tough love, though!

There are a few factors to consider here, such as whether the character is introverted or extroverted, or what kind of help the friends are willing to offer. For example, Takumi is introverted and the pushy methods of his friends in Team Faiz are insufficient to get him to open up, while Kiba knows exactly the right things to say to console him. Keitarou seems to be the opposite. He craves affection and needs to be around people all the time or else he'll get lonely.

There's a sweet spot between being too dependent on friends and indulging in self-destructive behavior by pushing them away. Where that sweet spot lies is determined by the individual. For me, I like my space to recharge my energy, I enjoy my own company but I don't want to be alone all the time, I need to interact with fellow intellectuals to keep my mind stimulated and give me inspiration.