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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

4: Kengo



Kengo is the character I most came around on with this rewatch. I never really liked him on my initial view, but I?m struggling to remember why. I think I just found him too petulant and whiny in the beginning, or just not a great actor. (I still think he?s? solid, maybe not the guy in the cast you see having a long and celebrated career in the industry.)

So imagine my surprise on this rewatch when the Kengo/Gentarou dynamic immediately locked in for me, providing the nucleus around which the entire show orbited. I know I just said that the KRC couldn?t exist without Yuuki, but that?s only because she facilitated the epic and heartwarming friendship between Gentarou and Kengo. It?s a bond that never feels like a foregone conclusion, or permanently resolved ? every time Kengo loses his shit at some insane assertion from Gentarou re: Making Friends, I bought the tension and friction that kept them trying to understand each other, over and over, all season long, because that?s what friendship is. Without Kengo?s arc, you?ve got no show. The Ryuusei stuff doesn?t work without Kengo?s story to provide a template that Meteor could play off of; the Gamou stuff doesn?t work without Kengo?s example; the friendship between Gen and Kengo is the show.

And I think Kengo carries his side of things beautifully? The high point for me (non-47/48 category) has to be Cosmic States, where Kengo has to devise and fulfill a Gentarou plan to revive Gentarou, and the ability for Kengo to do that was such a brilliant example of how these two knuckleheads impacted each other for the better. If I like Fourze, it?s because of this friendship.

Weirdly, I think I like Kengo less when I watch the show again. I think it's because I always tend to remember the character's high points and forget all of the time that he spends being either grumpy or relegated to background status because the show is way more interested in Ryusei right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Honestly, at the end of the day, after all these years, Fourze is a series where I feel nothing. I don?t hate it, but it?s not cracking my top 10 either. Which if you?re familiar with my opinions on? anything shouldn?t be a surprise (and if you?re not, the basic low-down is that I?m meh on anything beloved and popular, while drawn to stuff that most people are neutral to at best, dislike at worst. That?s not even a Toku only thing, I don?t like Kevin Conroy?s take on Batman)

I think Fourze cracks my top ten but not my top five. I don't know if any particularly elements of the series really stand out above the pack, but so much of it works so well that I always have a good time when I watch it. There are a lot of Rider shows that I kinda have to be in a certain mood to want to watch, but I'm pretty much always down for some Fourze.*

*Provided it's not the Gemini two-parter.