[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 09 - ?BIRTH OF A WITCH?

Which sort of affected this episode for me, as we close out our initial batch of spotlight stories for the KRC recruits. Gentarou does his I Gotta Make Friends With You thing at Tomoko before the opening credits, and we?re off on our way, like a roller coaster lurching out of the loading platform. With how little space any episode has (ironic, I know) to both tell a new monster-mystery and try to give each of its recurring cast members something to do, I get that we need the KRC more or less acting in harmony ? the less is Kengo, who we?ll get to ? but the result, in total, makes the befriended KRC members come off not quite as compelling as when they were in the spotlight, and a little more deferential to the group instead of maintaining their uniqueness and identity. They all have an attitude that?s individual, but their goals are uniform, if that makes any sense. This was the episode where it all felt like it happened too fast, them all aligned in their teamwork.

A club usually works towards a shared goal though and an important theme of Fourze is how many clashing personalities can support each other to become better. Maybe the pacing might be a little more dynamic if it was like Den-O, with an arc between each new member, but then that would require Gentarou to arbitarily not make any new friends for several fortnights at such an early point in his high school adventure, which would basically require him to not be Gentarou. There's always time to explore deeper conflict between the starting KRC members later on, after they've each had their introductions.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Like, even the new Fire States form happens too easily, with too little tension? Elec States resolved itself in a slightly confusing way for me, but at least the super form was allowed a little bit of a storyline to give it more gravitas than the half-dozen new switches that Fourze pulls out in an episode in order to show off in the most Q1 toyline way possible. Here, we?re told that the Fire Switch is powerful, and then Gen just? uses it. The end. It?s a neat new suit, but there?s nothing extra he needs to do to unlock it or control it. He just activates the Switch, and Kengo walks him through the various applications of its power. It?s cute, but it doesn?t? there?s no story to it. Perfunctory.

Episode 9 is a common debut for fire elemental forms in early Heisei Phase 2 though: Latorartar Combo -> Fire States -> Flame Dragon. Since Fire is basically on par with Elec in terms of power level, it kind of makes sense that Gentarou already has the means to tame it. The Switches aren't picky like Shift Cars, where each Type has their own emotional demands of the user. Gentarou only needs to accept the Switches wholeheartedly to befriend them, which he already learned how to do. Helps that even though we've seen Fire States' debut and both settings of the Hee-Hack Gun, its full potential hasn't been shown yet. Speaking of which, it's cool how the gun lights up like a firetruck siren!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's really fun for me to think about Amane being the same age as the rest of the cast, but still having a wealth of Kamen Rider experience to impart to them. There's no additional analysis or anything, I just like thinking about it.

Meanwhile, the other Amane actress appears in Kamen Rider The Next, so watch out for her whenever you get to that.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Reject reality! Gracias Deadmans!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Also, there is at least a little story to the Fire Switch here? In that Tomoko takes particular notice of it, and Kengo takes notice of that, so it's looped in as something that helps progress the characters in the larger narrative, even if in a small way, which is at least more of an argument than I think I could make with Shield.

I love how Kengo is all skeptical of ESP until Tomoko starts sensing big Cosmic Energy, then he takes it seriously! I guess he just needs a little more convincing to distinguish the posers from the genuine articles. Like with the Hopping Switch, I appreciate that Kengo will admit being wrong when faced with sufficient evidence.