[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Tomoko (I'M SORRY!!!)

(I know a Blade reference would be the go-to here, but I figure this thread will have plenty of time for that later.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

everything else in this episode felt tuned incorrectly. Gen comes off slightly too dimwitted, instead of sweetly motivated and single-minded in his focus on friendships. JK is wall-to-wall annoying, instead of just suspiciously outgoing and ingratiating. The music is distracting, instead of additive. The balance is wrong, rather than the ideas being bad, so I don't think the show's on the wrong track. This is early days, and it'll take some fine-tuning to get things right. But this one was kind of irritating to watch!

I've heard Rider directors say before that being the guy who does the episodes right after the pilot is, in its own way, almost harder than being the guy who does the pilot, because you have to start working before you have a completed pilot to clearly demonstrate what the show is actually supposed to be. I don't usually feel it that much, honestly? But I do wonder if that's got something to do with what's going on here for you, Die.

That being said, the guy who directed these ones IS Hidenori Ishida, and I recall from my rewatch that this was actually the first episode to do the big zoom out to orbit for the transformation? Which I also ~think~ would mostly be contained to his episodes after this, but I know there's at least one exception there. Regardless, it was a really fun idea that the show got to keep building on and escalating throughout its run, and if that was specifically Ishida's idea to begin with, that's a heck of a gift to give this show.