[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 1: “I’VE ARRIVED!”

I feel like I’m really going to enjoy what this show is about.

Even within an episode that’s ridiculously jazzy and jazzily ridiculous, there’s a melancholy to it. Ryotaro’s story so far isn’t just about magical trains and hourglass monsters and cute goth girls and street youths. It’s about the things we have inside of ourselves, and how important it is to find a balance between what we are, what we want to be, and what we’re afraid of becoming. How our demons and angels live inside of us, and our ability to harness them is what defines a good life.

Yeah, my prediction is that actually Den-O would be the show that suits your taste the most among Phase 1 alongside Faiz, Den-O is the Kamen Rider comedy and ridiculousness. Still fighting to help grounded approach to over the top ones though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Everything in this episode has a madcap energy that reminds me of my favorite Phase 2 shows. There’s parts of Fourze (weird girl shouting at boy to Henshin already so he can detonate a monster), parts of Ex-Aid (unlucky schlub protagonist), parts of OOO for sure (“helpful” monster who finds themself tied to the fate of the protagonist), but the character of Ryotaro is what makes it all feel like more than just the progenitor of my favorite Kamen Rider tropes. (Just!)

Yeah, Den-O seems like the progenitor of phase 2 things. I may be big time wrong on this and forgive me if I do so, but Den-O seems like the only phase 1 show which can challenge phase 2 shows for popularity. I don't want for this to be used as a proof to bash phase 1 and proclaiming that phase 2 is completely better in every way, considering that phase 2 is significantly more known to people as for one thing it's much more accessible. Den-O would still have something that is considered as a flaw to you for phase 1 though (including Kobayashi's penchant of show not tell, seen in Ryuki).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

He’s shy, cowering, in a way that could not be more the opposite of Kabuto’s Tendou. Ryotaro is someone who… it’s a weird thing, where the show almost goes out of its way to view his reluctance to fight as less cowardly, more placid. You know? He’s reluctant to cause a disruption, so he just gets hit a bunch. He’s not some monk, he really doesn’t want to get pummelled, but he’d rather suffer than speak up. That’s a really intriguing twist on what could’ve been some flailing scaredy-cat. Instead, it all feels like a conscious decision to not fight back.

The intentionality of that… you can see the first flash of it in the early Ryotaro Vs Street Youths scene, where he could run away, but instead he stays and gets beat up. There’s something with the jingling keychain of Tetsuo, probably, maybe, but Ryotaro opting to take their punishment rather than flee… yeah, I’m fascinated by that idea. It’s a fun riff on the Kamen Riders Don’t Back Down trope, where the hero takes a heroic beating, but it’s reframed as someone who’d rather absorb pain than push back against aggression.

And for Tendou talk you didn't even mention Kagami, huh?! Ryotaro is the quintessential bad luck magnet the franchise have, Kagami turned up to 11. Ryotaro is someone who has numerous number of flaws, like him being shy, timid, clumsy, weak, etc. And as he's suffering severe bad luck, hope that people won't victim blame him (even if bad luck is the main draw of Ryotaro) for that, but not talking about Ryotaro for this. I know the term coward is usually used negatively, as the term does mean negative thing, but there are good people who have good amount of doubt and fear, and Ryotaro is the kind who knows what would happen if he runs, so he stays even if he's forced to fight. And well, he of course is a saint like most of the Kamen Rider leads except a few like Takumi or Tendou (probably another anti-Tendou thing, but I think it's more of Tendou being anti-usual lead), I mean, the name Ryotaro literally means "good boy"! And as being said above, Ryotaro's actor, Takeru Sato, is one of the biggest star among Kamen Rider, and he has it to pull off acting for not only Ryotaro, but for the varying personalities of Imagins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The way Ryotaro’s contract monster (who I’m going to pretend I don’t know is Momotaros, the most readily-available Shinkocchou Seihou figure) becomes the part of him that only wants to fight, that is pure aggression, I love that as an expression of the show’s theme. That Ryotaro won’t fight for any reason, and his monster doesn’t need a reason to fight, and how the conflict in the episode is how they find a way to work together… just a super on-point story for a premiere episode, one that has me excited to follow the hero’s journey.

Momotaros is one of the characters that I would consider franchise-wide successful (something like Kuroto), how you know him before getting to Den-O speaks for itself. At his current form, it's... made intentionally ridiculous where Momotaros has the torso part on the ground, and the leg part above, wouldn't even be necessary for walking! With Momotaros possessing Ryotaro, he seems to become superhuman that he can break concretes or asphalts with his attacks. The street youths at least seem to have good dodigng skills to avoid those strikes. I wonder if those strikes will turn ordinary humans like them into splatters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

What I need is a Kamen Rider that grabs my imagination, and this one’s managed to do that exceptionally well. There’s the melancholy, where Ryotaro feels practically imprisoned by his emotions. There’s the great acting, the switches between Normal and Possessed that make for some kinetically unpredictable scenes. There’s that Henshin, with Plat Form giving way to Sword Form (the way the lenses come down like a train car before splitting open like a bug’s shell!) and an absolutely gorgeous suit. There’s Ryotaro’s innate goodness, never quite letting his trepidation keep him from doing the right thing.

Oh well, anyone don't kill me, but Den-O suit is the one that I dislike the most, probably for any primary Riders. Won't use that to bash the series or the suit or anything, as it's potentially design choice, but just, not into it. Plat Form is the another compleely weak and ineffectual pre-complete form like Kuuga's Growing and Ryuki's Blank. Currently, Den-O works by having Momotaros or other Imagins possess him, to change form into a form that can actually fight monsters. And as for here, Ryotaro would be another one who has no idea in the slightest of how the Kamen Rider device work, and he would've be the one that makes sense in KR series. I and probably the other audience would like react completely the same as him if put in that situation, someone who has never experienced fantasy world before, what is "henshin" (Ryotaro just does that and a belt just appears, to give a slight but important clue for Ryotaro.

Also, Hana just accidentally stepped on this... under her shoes.. but she picked that necklace with her hands right after!