[AkibaSilver]

So I got into Kamen Rider in the early 2010's. First series I watched from the start, as it was airing, was Wizard. But it's not as if I jumped right in at episode one having no idea what was going on. I'd checked out a few episodes of OOO, I watched Movie Wars Megamax, and people seemed to be having a blast with Fourze. But it was a series I'd never watched - until now.

(Yes, having seen Megamax and Movie Wars Ultimatum and all the movies since, I've seen the ending of Fourze's story before any of the actual story. But it'll still be a fun ride!) And on that note -

Kamen Rider Fourze - Episodes 1 & 2


Is it bad to be nostalgic for an episode structure? Our first 2-part arc is the basic set-up for the series (Look, Cosmic Switch! Zodiarts! Evil teacher! Asshole students who are in the opening sequence so they'll hopefully mellow out sooner than later!) mainly focused around Gentarou and Kengo. And they're a fun duo. Gentarou could easily come across as a cocky asshole, were it not for two things - his rock-bottom intelligence, and his earnestness. His first apparance is chewing Kengo for rejecting some girl, then to jump off a bridge to bring back the letter! Which he does! And the says he'll still befriend Kento, JUST TO SPITE HIM! (I've seen that quote before! I thought it was an edit!) He's just operating on his own rules of reality, where he can convincingly approach the footballers who used him as training practise, brush past them calling him trash, and still try to say "You're my friend" to the monster, and mean it. Kengo is simpler at this point, by virtue of not being the main protagonist, but he's clearly bitter over being unable to fight, his anger at Gentarou for butting in just as much a symptom of his own anger at his own failing body. Yuki is mainly here to serve as the glue between them, but she's still likeable, as her own kooky and offbeat self while still having enough grounding in the real world that she can mediate between the pair.

(We also meet Tomoko for like, five seconds, and the spooky witchy girl being the one to trace an IP address? Yeah, that's funny. JK is also here.)

All the football stuff is reminding me of an old joke (I don't remember where from) about the kid from Sharkboy and Lavagirl having 7 year old flunkies, which is how Shun and Mio come across here. Haughty and above-it-all, which makes them the obvious targets. Miura's aggression at the lack of respect isn't dealt with amazingly - he basically gets one Gentarou speech about "Bro kick his ass at football, don't deal with your problems by blowing up the school" - and he's honestly more sympathetic than his victims here, but the episode gracefully defuses that tension by having Gentarou and Yuki there for him at the end after they detonate his monster form. He was a kid taking out his pent up aggression, not some monster who deserves no sympathy.

A good opning! And we only saw 6 switches in use! By modern standards, that's barely any of the merchandise being used!