[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Ryotaro’s story so far isn’t just about magical trains and hourglass monsters and cute goth girls and street youths.

It is kind of what we're here for, though, right?

Something that does catch the viewer immediately off the bat, and what I figured would strike you too; is that after 7 years where Kamen Rider was defined by how moody it was to varying degrees... Den-O is hyped the heck up on sugar and fun. Oh, sure, it's not a binary switch; previous shows had their moments, Den-O has a lot more serious moments than a lot of people remember, and we're especially coming off of Blade, Hibiki and Kabuto here who were all very bizarre shows in different ways; but the whole attitude of Den-O... well, it's a climax from start to finish! It's a great breath of fresh air that might seem a little dated today when basically everything from W onwards is that way, but with the context of the time it's a big change.

As for the name - like the last couple series, Den-O is a Japanese name! It's not really spoilers especially as you have watched the first episode already and absorbed all its themes and trappings... and also it's a meaning any Japanese viewer would instantly understand, so I'll go ahead and say that Den-O roughly translates to Electric Train King (Den referring to the type of train they ride on, and the '-O' suffix referring to being a king of the subject).

Happy to see you tackle this one! It's an extremely popular series though certainly one I've seen a lot more polarisation of in recent years, and given both your initial reaction and how much you liked Kobayashi's other contributions to Rider (Amazons didn't have a second season, right?), I think it's one you'll have a hell of a time with. It's in my top 5 personally and the type of writer you are, you've already gone ahead and spelled out a lot of reasons why!