[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 33 - “CHAOS IN OLD KYOTO”

It’s a Wacky episode, with a number of characters straining the bounds of my patience with their heightened and abrasive character choices. There’s Yukina, right up front, as the oppressive and borderline-psychotic would-be girlfriend of an oblivious and uninterested Gentarou. (I say “borderline” because she really only threatens a puppet. But it’s still troubling!) Then there’s Yuuki, who is buffeted by Yukina’s mania into supporting her quest for love, or whatever possessive and alarming version of it Yukina’s capable of, via an unflattering costume. But mostly, there’s Ryuusei, who is… hmm.

I wonder if Yukina's the predecessor of Seina Tsukumo from Gotchard (Houtaro's childhood friend from ep. 30-31). Seina does have jealousy issues, but Yukina has outright twisted side to coerce Yuki into doing what she wants in damaging her belongings. She also pushes a shopkeeper away and force Yuki to look worse so she can't outshine Yukina. Case of women bringing each other down (only Yukina does this, obviously, including when she knows Yuki isn't dating Gentaro). While Tamae and Ritsuko wanted to ask Gentaro to the prom because he helped them to be free from Zodiart influence, I wonder what made Yukina like Gentaro (Seina too has a promise with Houtaro). As Yukina puts it, Gentaro likes all of humanity, but Gentaro only ever had eyes for Nadeshiko as a romantic interest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

This is our first episode with Ryuusei as Gentarou’s friend, and I didn’t care for it? He’s glued to Gentarou’s side in this one to a People Write Fic About This degree, and if I can see it as an attribute of Ryuusei’s that’s fairly well established – he became a Kamen Rider and murdered Gentarou in order to protect his only friend, so this is not a guy who just checks in once a month via text – it’s also kind of unwelcome and not super funny here. Like, Gentarou is a teen boy! He had his Teen Love Story back before Ryuusei showed up! You don’t need to bodyguard him from an overly amorous teen girl! Especially just deciding on your own that he needs protection without Gentarou objecting to Yukina's overtures! You’re being too weird too fast, Ryuusei!

What seems to be an interesting premise, or perhaps what should be more focused, is how perhaps Gentaro and other KRC members are put into a situation like Ryusei, that they have to be secretive about something, with non-KRC members tagging along (though Gentaro can invite people to join KRC like Miura, or having people want to join them like Ran and Haru). This may be a roadblock of Gentaro wanting to befriend others, like Ryusei putting a facade against the KRC. And, there seems to be still a contrast between Gentaro and Ryusei's view, despite Ryusei warming up to KRC and, that Gentaro, as do-gooders do, prioritize small happiness by letting Yukina have fun, while Ryusei only wants to prioritize completing missions to keep KRC's secret and continue beating Zodiarts. But obviously, do-gooder types of main Riders fight monsters to protect smiles, like Yukina having fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And this is very much a Weekly Storyline episode, despite the absence of half of the KRC from the Kyoto trip, or Ohsugi getting ditched in a perfectly sad scene of his standard humiliation. We’ve got Leo making a real, actual appearance; we’ve got Kengo meeting an old scientist buddy of his dad’s; we’ve got the Horoscopes being up to something in Kyoto; and we’ve even got the groaningly unwelcome TV series return of Foundation X, but at least they get beat up real bad. It’s a stuffed episode! And not just for Hayabusa’s prominence!

Guess Ohsugi still has his grumpy demeanor, albeit not being exclusively negative to Gentaro anymore. Other than Ohsugi only talking to a girl once, he states that he's always alone through all of his school days. Ohsugi somehow thinks there won't be school attacks in Kyoto, when the Zodiarts consist of any students rather than what target they will attack. Cosmic States' another combination here is Giantfoot + Freeze. Is the meaning of the ice is to make the giantfoot made of solid material (to the usual gravity illusion)? Otherwise, he uses only one Switch, Scissors and then Fire, thus Scissors isn't different from usual Fourze's forms and it's wasted potential to not have Fire added with something else to show off more of his powers.