[Switchblade]

So, Kabuto.

Going into this - as I may have mentioned once or twice - Kabuto was a show that refused to commit itself to my longterm memory. I knew I had watched it and I knew that I had generally liked it, but it really didn't have much that stood out. Coming out of the rewatch? It's fine. It's a perfectly fine show. Not great. Not awful. It's fine.

The show's main strength is its characters. Tendou works off of the strength of his actor's charisma helping to pull off what could otherwise be a really insufferable lead. Kagami and pre-departure Hiyori are both great. Tsurugi is possibly the best comic relief character in Kamen Rider history and I love how enthusiastically unnecessary Juka is. Really, everyone who isn't Kageyama is pretty great.

There are some truly excellent two-parters, but the overall plot never really gels. Part of that is having to deal with Yui Satonaka leaving for most of the last twenty episodes. But honestly, it really feels like neither the Worms nor the Natives have much character or present much of a coherent threat. Even ZECT, which is presented as a nebulously shady threat for much of the series, doesn't really have much of an agenda. It leaves the whole show feeling a bit aimless in the end.

Anyway, it's been fun and hopefully more of it will stick in my memory this time.

Definitely looking forward to slipping on my banana new shoes and ore sanjou by bike-ing into the Den-O thread in a couple weeks!