[AkibaSilver]

Kamen Rider Fourze - Episodes 3 & 4



Yes, it's also the one with the infamous JAV pool. Hahaha.

Core question in these two episodes - is Mio's better-than-thou attitude justified by the amount of work she puts in? Gentarou's answer, and the episode itself, takes a firm "Yes" stance. She puts so much effort into being the best, and is disappointed by others who she feels want to just feel good for liking her. It's not exactly a bad character ideal (or flaw) to have, but my god does she make herself incredibly unlikeable in the process. Tearing up fanmail while demeaning the person who wrote it is not a good look! And I'm not sure the episode fully manages to cross that boundary in the second part with making it seem worth it.

(Also, Shun was totally ready to cheat on his girlfriend(?) behind her back, also not a good look for you buddy! You're in the Opening Credits, get some morals!)

I'm not going to stand here and lecture on how your characters "Have" to be likeable, that's not how televison works, but I feel the episode misjudges the emotional reaction it wants you to have? Mio's little speech to Chameleon Cheerleader at the end, where she's like "I'm glad you finally showed your true colours" and it's treated as some bonding moment, maybe I'm just not coming at it from the right angle? Because it can very easily read as "I'm a bastard to you, but it's okay because it made you stronger", which is not the best moral for a kids show. And it's the second story in a row where the Victim of the Week is a popular kid sidekick jealous of their friend, who may be a dick, which is giving me bad vibes? It's not quite on the level of "Fighting back against your bully is bad" because both monsters are also on the bully side - and Chameleon Cheerleader is definitlely weirdly possessive of 3rd cheerleader - but I hope it's not a trend that continues!

Gentarou, though, is a positive throughout all this. Only he could try and convince someone to win a bet against himself, who openly calls him trash, because he can see how much she truly cares for it. He even likes the Hopping Switch. And I guess that's what I have to try and draw the moral line fron? Like how the Hopping Switch can be useful, you just have to be able to work with it, Mio's brand of haughtyness is good, you just have to know how to use it? I don't know about that for sure...