[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 25 - "DOUBLE CLIMAX JUMP”




I'm glad they went with a whole Dreams motif for this episode, because the easiest way to describe this thing is A Fever Dream.

The fact that it starts with a disoriented Ryotaro is perfect, because the majority of this episode is perplexing and contextless. There's a decent enough throughline for the Spider Imagin, where a guy wants his hospitalized little sister to see the stars and it all goes wrong (he made the wish in a nightmare!), but nearly every linking scene feels like the exposition has been edited out. Multiple Yuutos and Denebs appear, Momo and Kin are acting incredibly weird, and most dialogue could be replaced with This Will All Make Sense Later. It's an episode that's the setup for a joke, with the punchline still to come.

Like, there's a movie coming up! I get it! I'm not really mad at some protracted tie-in to what looks to be an appropriately bonkers Den-O summer film. This thing is serving a different narrative/corporate master, and that's fine. It's just, boy, real hard to talk about this one!

Setting aside all of the movie tie-in stuff (which looks very fun!), we get a variety of team-ups that generate variable excitement.

The first team-up, and the best one, is between Ryotaro and Yuuto. It's a situation that kicks off because Deneb demands it, basically. Ryotaro needs some help getting Milk Dipper set up for a party, and Deneb volunteers Yuuto's body. Yuuto gets mortified by Deneb's enthusiasm (that Yuuto actor looks hilariously psychotic), so he opts to help out on his own, even though he's Not Here To Make Friends.

I will maybe always love how transparent Yuuto is. He literally can't keep the smile off of his face as he channels Future Sakurai to put up the constellation decorations, and then he gets all grumpy and sullen when he thinks someone sees him enjoying himself. It's so dumb, him needing to keep this stoic facade when absolutely no one is impressed by it. It's a show about embracing who you are inside and not judging it, so of course we need a dope like Yuuto who's pushing away the people he wants to befriend by denying who he is. Of course.

It's also just fun to see Ryotaro and Yuuto try to solve an Imagin Mystery, because Ryotaro is honestly not that great at it? Yuuto immediately has a solid plan on how to proceed as a team, while Ryotaro almost blows their surveillance, then gets time-abducted, leaving Yuuto to do the whole goddamn thing himself. I'm starting to get why Yuuto doesn't want Ryotaro as a friend!

(One of the best gags in a riotously funny episode is that big declaration from Yuuto that the Spider Imagin is going to have to face Ryotaro... who is nowhere to be found. That shot from out in the hallway, with Yuuto's confused look through an empty doorway, and then the Spider Imagin leans in with an Oh Dude He Ghosted You, that was a great visual gag.)

The second team-up's a little one, but I like Naomi and Hana taking care of Milk Dipper for a minute. It's mostly there for an Ozaki thing, but I just like the concept. In my head, any scene of the two of them off of DenLiner is just Hana Teams With Legend Civilian Mana. But, like, Mana got weirdly into vinyl clothing in the last five years or something. Had a real fun time at uni, maybe.

The third team-up is an Airimirers thing, and I'm skipping that.

Fun episode to watch, even if I got no idea how any of it fits together yet. I guess between the next few days of episodes, and Sunday's movie, it'll all come together. Looking forward to understanding this episode retroactively!



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-So, the movie. I originally had it planned for after 26, since it came out the day before 27, but then the Wiki said 25-27 are all a lead-in for the movie, so now I'm watching it after 27. Sound right?

-One of the greatest character moments in all of Den-O is probably Deneb cursing himself for not making his candy delicious enough to get Hana to believe in Yuuto. The purity of Deneb is both adorable and pathetic in equal measures, a recipe that nourishes my soul. The fact that Momo got a Seihou before Deneb is galling, and easily one of the 800 dumbest things Bandai has done in the last two years.

-Ryotaro's bedroom is... nice! It's a room that's exactly like Ryotaro himself: pleasant, spacious, unassuming, forgettable. It's a vanilla box, just like its inhabitant. It's missing the color that the Imagin draw out of him. Smart set design.