[Fish Sandwich]

I'm happy you're getting so much enjoyment out of Kai, and am also still struck by how apt that fog bank metaphor you used to compare our reactions to the Zeronos stuff was:

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The debut of Zero Form kicks Yuuto's plotline into overdrive, and in the process it's one of the most wonderful and unique debuts for a power-up in Rider history. Mostly because it's more like a downgrade than anything. The whole context and atmosphere of him using it are so far removed from the normal way these kinds of episodes go that it's more comparable to Ultimate Kuuga than anything, and that's some dang high praise. It's more of that melancholy that no other show does like Den-O, and the straightforward, very visually expository scene of Zeronos rusting (even the reason he's red now is depressing) is one of the most striking moments of the entire series to me. Not bad for a show that's usually just known as "the funny one".

This episode was also directed by our old friend Naoki Tamura (TV Asahi), by the way. Dude really did some great work on this franchise.

But, hey, for once, we're totally on the same page about one thing in Den-O:

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Climax Jump is one of my favorite themes in the whole franchise, and frankly I'm not okay with the version of it that gets used starting with episode 40. It just sounds off, wrong, and nowhere near as upbeat, and the "ii jan, ii jan, sugee jan" part over the title card makes me want to vomit for some reason.

...so that's something.