[GodSpeedLove]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

For some reason, the abandoned park setting is one of my most concrete memories from this phase of OOO.

I definitely also remember that this was the episode where it really hit me that we're just going to be keeping Date around for pretty much the foreseeable future. For context: back when the show was airing we kept getting rumors every few weeks that Date was going to be killed off and Gotou would become Birth. Date may or may not then come back like the dude in Movie Wars Core. But then another month would go by and Date was still here. I don't have any behind-the-scenes insight, but from some of the cast photos (I'll talk about the bunny hate eventually) we got it just seemed like Hiroaki Iwanaga was a really fun guy to hang out with so the show just kept him around a lot longer than initially planned. This episode, though, with the scene where Gotou refuses to put on the Birth belt, is where it really felt like the show was fully committing to Date.

I also love the abandoned theme park! It might be a budget thing but I wish Kamen Rider made use of more varied locations. Also the vibes of the crew enjoying a day out (if only for a few minutes) was spectacular.

Additionally, I will add on to what everyone else is saying and say that they clearly did not intend to drag out the Date/Gotou arc (there only being that one Date focus episode with the sisters is proof of this in my mind), but I'm really not complaining. Date is fantastic! Easily my favorite secondary rider. I just wish they didn't drop the competition aspect of Date/Eiji so soon. I thought it was really interesting for a show about currency/desire for two characters fighting the same monsters for different reasons (and disagreeing on who gets the spoils). Date being somewhat selfish but realistic is really refreshing. That was a thing for maybe 3-4 episodes? But by now he's just part of the crew, and I think that happened too fast or without a proper transition. That's just me though, what do you think?