[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Yep. One of Inoue's favorite things to do on his shows is push heavy pathos and one of his very favorite gimmicks for that is the artist who loses their ability to perform. It was a big part of Faiz and it popped again in Kabuto and OOO. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other examples that I'm not aware of/forgetting, too. What makes the situation with Kengo different is that it is so directly similar to Kaido's story on Faiz. For me it's one of the most egregious examples of Kiva being a hodgepodge of reused plot lines from Inoue's older work.

Also, while Kengo has grown on me this time through, he will never hold a candle to how great Kaido is and it does him a real disservice to force the comparison.

I obviously can't say how similar the plots end up being, but, while I'll totally acknowledge the similar origins, it feels like they're plots that are about different things.

Kaido's story is about how he fits into society, and how society supports his choices. Coming into the narrative with a huge chip on his shoulder forces the series to deal more viscerally with his frustrations, resentments, and tentative reconciliations. It's a story explicitly about how he's going to find a culture/family that can help him find a use for himself.

With Kengo, it's about slightly different things. (So far! Let me be clear that I could be reading Kengo's story totally wrong!) It's more about Kengo not being able to deal with a sudden change in his life, which we never saw Kaido have to confront. Kengo's like a Kaido who hasn't yet calcified into a ne'er-do-well. There's still a chance he can be salvaged, and that'll depend on how his friends support him. It's more about individual choices than it is a metaphor for society. Characters like Nago and Wataru have a lot more say in what happens to Kengo than anyone in Faiz did for Kaido.

But time will tell!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It makes sense to try and keep viewers aware of an increasingly complex plot, but the way early Heisei Rider loved to throw you into the deep end with an out-of-context replay of the previous week's climax was always charming to me, and having a cartoon bat giving unrelated educational fun facts over top of that was once again, a very distinctive element that I would've liked to see continue the whole way through. There are still a few more episodes with trivia before it totally switches over to the recaps, but still, it's a bummer.

It is a bummer!

And, man, most of those facts were related to the upcoming episode. Is omelet rice going to factor heavily into the episode's plot? Time for Kivat to give you some tips for preparing the best omelet rice! Does a major gag depend on knowledge of mid-80s pop culture? He's some info about Onyanko Group! I mean, sure, there were a lot of random facts about violins (a thing that used to factor heavily into this superhero romance show), but it always felt additive to the experience and relevant to the world of the characters.