[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 28 - "TOO LUCKY, TOO EXCITED, TOO STRANGE”




First of all, I want to praise the absolute brass balls on Kobayashi for debuting the brand-new Den-O form two episodes after the movie. The only debut Den-O form in that film was Sword Form Junior! And then the big Power Of Teamwork form shows up a fortnight later! On TV! For free! The stones of her to do that... amazing. It's so counterintuitive that my head is still spinning. Unbelievable and surprising.

I don't know that the form would've been as cool outside this epilogue, though. I'm sure she could've cooked up some Voltron-style reason for the time-displaced Imagin to all combine in order to defeat Gaoh. It would've been fine, maybe even fun. But putting that suit here, and grounding it in how much Momo cares about the other Imagin? That's some generous and fulfilling storytelling.

This whole episode is pretty much just an epilogue to the film, addressing some bits of unfinished business. The remaining jewel thief and Imagin, the ones who eluded Yuuto last episode, are out causing some low-level mayhem. They're a minor distraction in this story, to the degree that the action kicks off when Ryotaro remembers that he never went back to defeat the final Imagin because of the movie. (It's incredibly fitting that Yuuto took the time after Gaoh was defeated to make Ryotaro go clean up Yuuto's mess. Something something limited amount of Zeronos cards NOPE he just wanted to make Ryotaro do it.) There's only comedic threat to these two adversaries; the thief is a total dope, and the Imagin never does much more than beat up some karate guys in a forest. They exist to get defeated, and they eventually do. They aren't the obstacle, though.

The obstacle is that, in his brief bout of Narratively Convenient Amnesia, Ryotaro has severed his link with every Imagin except Momo. All of the various hangers-on are disappearing, and there's nothing to be done to save them. Most of the episode is suffused with grief, as Ryotaro and Hana are powerless to save their friends.

Momo, though...

It's more exciting to me that this Disappearing Imagin story dug into how Momo feels about the other Imagin than how Ryotaro feels about them. Ryotaro's little speech about how difficult his life is because of his friends, but he still considers them friends, it's not really a revelation. I don't see this show having kind and empathetic Ryotaro go Phew Finally Amirite at three teammates disappearing. How Ryotaro felt about them wasn't exactly unexplored territory. It's nicely said, but it felt slightly redundant.

The Momo stuff was surprisingly affecting and understated, though. It's not the Episode 4 thing where Momo's fiery demeanor causes him to shout his feelings. It's the side of him that can only be vulnerable as a joke, or else he keeps it to himself. Getting these little flashes of him choking back tears, or avoiding eye contact with the others, that's a version of this story I'm more curious about. Momo's pain is real, but it's really only clear when you see his joy at his friends' return.

Which, I don't know if this is going to work for everyone. If you feel like they did a fake-out here, where the Imagin come back with a handwave and it's all just a pointless cul-de-sac of a plot, I wouldn't fight you on it. It's a problem that comes mostly out of nowhere (Owner's explanation for why everyone but Momo are getting dissolved is incredibly convoluted, and it feels pretty flimsy even for Time Magic), and it all wraps up due to Feelings. There's a Ghost episode later in the run where Takeru drops dead and gets resurrected (with a new form?) all in one episode, and this one reminded me of that. It's not a super-tight plot.

This one worked for me, though. I never thought the Imagin were gone for good. There's like twenty episodes left! This show isn't going to lose 75% of its merchandising opportunities with five months left to go! So the tension was less in If, and more in How the Imagin would come back. It being a situation where Ryotaro believed in them enough to allow Momo to ask them to come back, that all totally landed with me.

Because it's Momo who does it. He answers the phone, he dials them back to life, he defeats the Imagin with their help. It's a story that ends up being about how Momo needs these weirdos in his life, how it's not the same without them around. It told me something new about Momo, so I'll forgive it its imperfect plotting. This ended up being a nice extra climax for the last week's worth of Den-O movie stuff, which is probably exactly how Momo would prefer it.



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Climax Form! I think it's very fun, and ALL HAIL TAKAIWA. The suit itself is this weird mishmash of heads, with maybe a little too much animation going on, but that dude kills in his performance. Seeing him switch from one Imagin to another inside of a shot, it's art. He is an artist, and Climax Form is probably his masterpiece.

-If the Rider Kick that Den-O does in Climax Form isn't called Climax Jump, I might need to quit watching these shows. They even played the theme song and everything! It's too perfect!

-The plotting in this one is a little imprecise, but the only thing I went WAIT WHAT HOW at was when Deneb shows up at Milk Dipper to tell Yuuto about the disappearing Imagin. Who told Deneb? This isn't some problem that the DenLiner crew needed anyone else's help with. No one was expecting Yuuto to pitch in. How did Deneb hear about it? My only guess is a headcanon that Deneb and Naomi text constantly, gossiping about everything on the show.

-...most of my headcanons are about Naomi's rich inner life. I won't apologize for that!