[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 39

Luckily, there’s one super straightforward part, and that’s the reveal that Hiyori had a home.

It’s, again, something I’d never considered, and I love that the show wanted to delve into it. Hiyori’s been missing for weeks (months?) and Sally from La Salle’s like Tendou You Gotta Feed Her Son, by which she means Hiyori’s bird. Because Hiyori has a bird! And a room! With her things in it!

Everything about that scene is great. Tendou’s conflict of feeling like he’s violating Hiyori’s privacy, peering into her heart, while feeling more connected to her than ever. Just… she’s got a bird! In a cage! Because of course Hiyori’s pet is a bird in a cage! Hiyori is someone who feels trapped by herself, by all the ways she wishes she could be free! Of course she bought an animal defined by freedom and then caged it so it can’t get away!

And then there’s the callback of Hiyori opening a restaurant after Tendou’s insistence, and she’s creating recipes with little food drawings at the top, and he starts making those recipes to feel like they’re talking to each other again, because they talk about their feelings through food, I love it so much. It’s a scene, him making her recipes, that’s such a celebration of their connection. It’s the most I’ve missed Hiyori since she disappeared, and it comes in the same episode where Tendou finds himself back in Heightened Contrast Dimension, face-to-face with Hiyori again.

As well as with Dark Kabuto.

It was nice to learn more about Hiyori from her home, to fill in the void left by her absence. It makes a lot of sense that she has a pet bird, since it helps her feel a little less lonely and that bird is probably one of the few characters who she feels like she can trust and love and won't ever let her down. I presume she thought Tendo or someone else would take care of her bird after she left, since I doubt she would've just left it to die alone. That's the opposite of what I'd except her to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

The Dark Kabuto suit makes its debut in this episode! Thoughts?

Dark Kabuto is one of my favorite Dark Rider designs due to how mysterious it looks. I like how Masked Form is virtually identical to regular Kabuto's except for the black Zecter and yellow eyes, it gives a feeling that something is uncanny and wrong about it and then it casts off in to Rider Form to reveal the black suit with red accents. It's really appropriate how similar it looks since the person under the suit also looks identical to the original, which happened before with Dark Shinji as Ryuga. Dark Kabuto is probably my third favorite Dark Rider design behind Dark Kiva and Dark Drive. Ryuga and Dark Drive are examples of Dark Riders I prefer to the original designs, while Dark Kabuto I like pretty much equally to the original since they both have the same qualities.