[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The dreamlike summer haze and brilliant use of perspective in the second shot were all brought to you by Hidenori Ishida, naturally.

This is an odd episode of Den-O! I remember watching it after the movie the first time and not even totally comprehending it was supposed to be like, a prologue, at first? Because that whole concept was just so weird to me when the show had already devoted so much time to setting up the movie, and if I'm being honest, I believe on principle that the TV show should stand entirely on its own to begin with.

It's also so nuts I loved it on a rewatch, and kinda don't care about any of that anymore? Like, any episode where Deneb wears a watermelon as a hat is going to create that goodwill you mentioned. It's a fun episode, even if it's just a fun episode.

I imagine that when the Deneb suit actor picks up a script and sees Ishida's name on the credits, he's like Oh Hell He's Going To Make Me Run In Some Long Take. And he did! And it was worth it!

Yeah, I don't want my (relative) brevity and criticizing to make it sound like this one was a chore or anything. The Ura/Hana/Yuuto chase stuff was fun, the Milk Dipper slumber party was fun, Deneb is a collection of very fun quirks. There's a middle section of delightful Den-O nonsense. But, man, both ends of this episode are basically reused footage! That's a lot! That's usually where you'd put an actual story!