[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 23 - "ENTER THE PRINCE, KNEEL DOWN TO HIM!"




Of the many Phase 2-isms that Den-O pioneered, I think my favorite is Monsters Who Hate Their Jobs.

Like, both of the Imagin in this story are terrible at their jobs. Prince is too self-centered to give a single bird dropping about trying to obliterate the timeline (or whatever), and the Crab (?) Imagin is just totally bored with trying to grant wishes. They're both overwhelmingly awful at their entire reason for being. And they aren't even the first ones to suck at this! The two Imagin from the last story were garbage at opening people's Time Holes, and we've probably had at least another half-dozen Imagin Of The Week that could barely string a scheme together. Plus every single Imagin on both Liners!

Weirdly, it not only doesn't matter for the success of the IOTWs missions (they are successfully enlarging Time Holes, no matter the Imagin), but it doesn't hurt the stories they appear in. Sure, they're goofy as hell, but they're still formidable obstacles to the heroes. If anything, their awfulness at being menacing actually increases the degree of difficulty in stopping them, since who the hell knows what they'll do next. It's a show full of unpredictable characters, which makes each story a little more fun, a little less rote.

I mean, this one's fairly straightforward (for a Den-O value of "straightforward"): Team Den-O needs to reunite a baby with his mother. The complications are not just a lazy-ass Imagin out in the world, but a self-absorbed Imagin on the DenLiner.

Prince! He's bringing a new energy to Den-O, but not exactly a new energy to Kamen Rider. Look, I'll say it: it's Kabuto. Ryotaro got possessed by Kabuto, and now we're in a story where Hana and the team have to find a way to harness Kabuto's bottomless self-regard and pathological inability to follow other people's orders, all in the hopes of reuniting a family.

It's a fun, fleet story, moving through a dizzying amount of information for just one episode. There's not a ton of thematic stuff to haul out of this story yet, but the plotting and construction of this bonkers story was top notch. The way the story fills in blanks with a bare minimum of dull exposition, opting instead for ridiculous flashbacks (Ryuta brought Prince onboard days ago and never told anyone!) and comedic happenstance (Ozaki's tiny picture is on a page of the newspaper with every single piece of info Hana needs!) to keep the story rollicking along.

Just a fun little caper of a story, with a neat new Imagin on the DenLiner. And animals! So many animals!



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Not a lot for Yuuto or Deneb to do this episode, but at least Zeronos gets added to the opening credits! Otherwise, we get a funny little scene of Deneb worrying after their groceries (honestly, Yuuto could've taken them with) and some Finger Guns to cover for Ryotaro's escape. Yuuto does seem incrementally more engaged with the team, however, and that's nice to see. He's not here to make friends, though!

-I really enjoyed Prince as a character, and not just because it's nice to see Tendou again. He truly has a sense of brotherly affection for this baby he accidentally possessed, which (like Ryuta's love of animals) helps smooth over the fact that he's a demanding asshole to the group. (Quick to threaten, as well! You don't want to end up as Friend #2!) There's never a moment in this episode where Prince isn't fully committed to safeguarding this child until its mother is found, and the safety and happiness of the baby is never played for laughs. Prince's an imperial jerk, naturally, but he wants to do what's right for this kid. It's a really well-formed character.