[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 13

Due to the way this show is written, I'm pretty sure I won't get another chance to ask this question if I don't right now – what in the heck is up with the goofy TheBee tattoos!? It is such a baffling narrative decision that the series is also totally noncommittal about. Like, I'm trying to think of why this was done on a meta level before anything else, and immediately I hit a brick wall. Did they somehow think viewers wouldn't understand who was TheBee at any given time without a little extra hint? Was it some insanely overcomplicated way to remind Kagami of all that was now riding on him/letting Kagayama brag to Yaguruma? And, hey, actually, about Yaguruma! Forget about the creative motivations, because now I'm just going to ask if Yaguruma ever had one of these too. Does it go away when you stop being TheBee? Or, wait, for that matter, does every Zecter do this, or is TheBee just quirky that way? Does Tendou have one? Is the reason Daisuke is so disinterested in being a Rider because he values aesthetics and is sick of his chest randomly glowing with the blinding force of the sun at inopportune moments, completely ruining his style?

It's all so utterly weird, and yet what's even weirder to me is that the thought I kept having watching this one (you know, before Kageyama opened his shirt at least) was how glad I felt the writing was moving away from Inoue and back into the safe, capable hands of Shouji Yonemura. The hands of Yonemura. I'm generally a fan of Inoue, even! But for whatever reason, even though I liked the last two episodes, this one, start to finish, just felt so much meatier in terms of the story it was telling, and I enjoyed it a lot more as a result.

It definitely helps that, unlike Die, I will totally watch this show for Yaguruma. I have no idea why (maybe I just like his debut that much), but I have an almost embarrassing level of attachment to this dude, to the point I legitimately root for him to get his s*** together here. I'm not sure if that's even the reaction the show is hoping for, but at any rate, that means I've always had it out for Kageyama since the first time I watched this one. That kid doesn't remember his roots, man! Sure, Yaguruma had one really bad day, and clearly also some mental issues that he could probably use professional help with, but the first thing happens to everyone, and the second thing applies to at least everyone in this show. If Yaguruma had the luck of a main protagonist, he'd get a chance to overcome his faults with the support of the people around him and emerge a better person, but instead it's like everybody is just laughing at him this whole episode! Do you really want to see what Yaguruma looks like with an even bigger chip on his shoulder?

I feel like this post is getting more hard to tell where I'm serious than I intended, so getting back on track, I really did enjoy this one. As you can hopefully pull out from that impassioned rant about Yaguruma, I thought it had a lot more complex, interesting emotions going on than the previous story, even in just the little bits that don't immediately amount to much. Moments like Hiyori dropping a plate on the floor and it breaking causing stressful flashbacks to her being trapped under collapsing rubble, like, yes. I'm all over that. I don't know if there's a lot of real depth here; I feel like a lot of it is in what you're willing to read into it, but I found myself super absorbed the whole time.

...Even if I can't totally figure out the Shadow situation either. I'm pretty sure it was never dissolved, because dialogue from Yaguruma's debut makes it clear it was around before TheBee, and if the entire continued existence of this group was seriously predicated entirely on whether or not a random part-timer with no leadership experience would command them, I mean... I think that says a lot more about ZECT than it does about Kagami? Even when he was the leader, you could tell he had no clue how to manage the squad in combat. The guy's Harmony is pretty far from Perfect, after all.

The Zect Mizer also sure does exist this episode, and the sheer trouble the show had finding a reasonable excuse for Kabuto to shill it – and basically deciding no reason at all will have to do – reminds me of Die pointing out how little action Kabuto's knife gets when I brought it up a few episodes back, and that I actually completely adore how little Kabuto relies on weapons? It's a huge part of what makes this instance of marketing that much more blatant. Kabuto has one of the most instantly distinctive fighting styles of any Rider ever, and in a move that would've been shocking even back when it aired, it just doesn't leave much room for toys. Tendou's minimalist and precise approach to combat is all about reading the enemy and countering perfectly, and when he can do that, he only needs the knife as a sort of finishing move to use on mooks to keep the Rider Kick as more of a main event deal. Which also means his Rider Kick is treated with a ton of weight, which I of course also adore. Even looking beyond the obvious Clock Up stuff, there's a lot I find to love about this show's action. Although Tendou using Clock Up to save exactly one bottle of falling olive oil is certainly a great sequence.

Oh, and for the question, I'm going with Option C, "ZECT is apathetic." I've said before that every single character in this show is eccentric, so I'm pretty sure it's neither that ZECT can't or doesn't want to spend the money; it's just that the higher-ups are genuinely incapable of even registering the concept that anyone would ever not want to work this way, let alone agreeing with it. They think dark, empty rooms are cooler anyway, and probably borrowed their advice on employee benefits from BOARD.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Due to the way this show is written, I'm pretty sure I won't get another chance to ask this question if I don't right now – what in the heck is up with the goofy TheBee tattoos!? It is such a baffling narrative decision that the series is also totally noncommittal about.

Huh! I never brought this up because I just assumed it was going to be expounded upon later. If it's not... yeah, no idea what the point is.

I'd agree that it's maybe something the show felt like it needed to clear up any confusion about which Rider was which, since TheBee has been three different people in just a half-dozen episodes. This episode was also the second time there's been a voiceover explaining Clock Up, so it feels like someone in production wanted to make things crystal clear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It definitely helps that, unlike Die, I will totally watch this show for Yaguruma. I have no idea why (maybe I just like his debut that much), but I have an almost embarrassing level of attachment to this dude, to the point I legitimately root for him to get his s*** together here. I'm not sure if that's even the reaction the show is hoping for, but at any rate, that means I've always had it out for Kageyama since the first time I watched this one. That kid doesn't remember his roots, man! Sure, Yaguruma had one really bad day, and clearly also some mental issues that he could probably use professional help with, but the first thing happens to everyone, and the second thing applies to at least everyone in this show. If Yaguruma had the luck of a main protagonist, he'd get a chance to overcome his faults with the support of the people around him and emerge a better person, but instead it's like everybody is just laughing at him this whole episode! Do you really want to see what Yaguruma looks like with an even bigger chip on his shoulder?

I do like Yaguruma! I just care more about his arc when it's more tied to Kagami or Tendou. The best Yaguruma scene in the episode was when he runs into Tendou at that shop. I even made sure to include the screencap of him telling Tendou that he's going to be a big deal soon, his mom says he's special, and you're all going to be sorry you laughed at him! That stuff was great!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Oh, and for the question, I'm going with Option C, "ZECT is apathetic." I've said before that every single character in this show is eccentric, so I'm pretty sure it's neither that ZECT can't or doesn't want to spend the money; it's just that the higher-ups are genuinely incapable of even registering the concept that anyone would ever not want to work this way, let alone agreeing with it. They think dark, empty rooms are cooler anyway, and probably borrowed their advice on employee benefits from BOARD.

A bunch of reviews for ZECT on Glassdoor that are like:

PROS - Lax managerial hierarchy allows for rapid skills-based advancement; flexible work hours
CONS - Poor lighting; occasional mandatory tattoos

[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It definitely helps that, unlike Die, I will totally watch this show for Yaguruma. I have no idea why (maybe I just like his debut that much), but I have an almost embarrassing level of attachment to this dude, to the point I legitimately root for him to get his s*** together here. I'm not sure if that's even the reaction the show is hoping for, but at any rate, that means I've always had it out for Kageyama since the first time I watched this one. That kid doesn't remember his roots, man! Sure, Yaguruma had one really bad day, and clearly also some mental issues that he could probably use professional help with, but the first thing happens to everyone, and the second thing applies to at least everyone in this show. If Yaguruma had the luck of a main protagonist, he'd get a chance to overcome his faults with the support of the people around him and emerge a better person, but instead it's like everybody is just laughing at him this whole episode! Do you really want to see what Yaguruma looks like with an even bigger chip on his shoulder?

Shoot, someone that agrees with me! At the time I really loved Yaguruma's character -- at my core I'm someone who looks for very basic things in a character, just someone who is very genuine and caring and who isn't really much of a bad person; and seeing how the series makes that interesting. It's hardly the only thing I like, but it's definitely why shows like OOO and Kuuga and Fourze resonate a lot with me and why I fell in love with Toku to begin with. So someone like Yaguruma who the show goes out of its way to frame as the most honest person ever instantly had me in love... and I'll have to stop there, otherwise I'll be spoiling his entire arc even if I say how I feel about it. Point is, I loved him here and everything that's going on with him.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Huh! I never brought this up because I just assumed it was going to be expounded upon later. If it's not... yeah, no idea what the point is.

I'd agree that it's maybe something the show felt like it needed to clear up any confusion about which Rider was which, since TheBee has been three different people in just a half-dozen episodes. This episode was also the second time there's been a voiceover explaining Clock Up, so it feels like someone in production wanted to make things crystal clear.

It doesn't if I'm not forgetting something, anyway. I have the same memory issues with this show that Switchblade does, but I feel like the glowing bug logos having plot significance is something I'd recall at least a little?

The Clock Up narration, on the other hand, doesn't bother me at all, because I think it might be a sort of tribute to old-school Showa toku where that kind of exposition was fairly common? This was an anniversary series, after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Shoot, someone that agrees with me!

I know from experience how much of a surprising feeling that can be!

Yeah, I've just always found Yaguruma's characterization in these early episodes fascinating. The show loads him with all these extremely unflattering character defects, and yet never shows him as being anything less than entirely genuine about his desire to be a strong and dependable leader for the sake of the group, despite his ego playing a part in that.

He's not really characterized quite like a straight hero, but is definitely not a villain, and that's a sort of character you I don't see too often in stories that otherwise neatly file people into groups that way. If you really step back and look at it, I feel like a lot of his status as an antagonist in his debut is owed entirely to the show's choice of perspective. In a lot of other narratives, the hard-working team player would be the one the audience is meant to cheer on against the emotionally detached man seemingly relying on endless good fortune, right? Yaguruma losing his cool because of Tendou looks bad up until you consider that it's Tendou. I think the show is smart about how it plays this, because it never totally feels like it's outright condemning either side, which is presumably why even Tendou himself feels bad enough to encourage Yaguruma a bit after everything goes to crap for him.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

He's not really characterized quite like a straight hero, but is definitely not a villain, and that's a sort of character you I don't see too often in stories that otherwise neatly file people into groups that way. If you really step back and look at it, I feel like a lot of his status as an antagonist in his debut is owed entirely to the show's choice of perspective. In a lot of other narratives, the hard-working team player would be the one the audience is meant to cheer on against the emotionally detached man seemingly relying on endless good fortune, right? Yaguruma losing his cool because of Tendou looks bad up until you consider that it's Tendou. I think the show is smart about how it plays this, because it never totally feels like it's outright condemning either side, which is presumably why even Tendou himself feels bad enough to encourage Yaguruma a bit after everything goes to crap for him.

Of the four episodes Yaguruma's been in, for the last three of them I think the only word that comes to mind to describe his character... it's not Hero or Villain or Antihero, it's Tragic. He's almost immediately revealed to be someone who self-sabotages, who'd rather risk disgrace going for an A+ than live with the indignity of an A.

He's a fascinating character when compared to Tendou, since Tendou's whole approach to encouraging others is Achieve Individually, Succeed Together, versus Yaguruma's approach of Achieve Together, Succeed Individually. There's a feeling to both that the two men want others to succeed, but Tendou preaches an enlightened self-interest that could come off as self-centered, if the show weren't intent on characterizing it as independence and self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, it's the parts of the show that start to poke holes in Yaguruma's perspective where I feel the most interested in his character, where the idea of a team effort starts to look more like a cheer squad for a man who's less altruistic than he thinks.

Yaguruma in a Tendou story is where I'm way, way more interested in his journey.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Shoot, someone that agrees with me! At the time I really loved Yaguruma's character -- at my core I'm someone who looks for very basic things in a character, just someone who is very genuine and caring and who isn't really much of a bad person; and seeing how the series makes that interesting. It's hardly the only thing I like, but it's definitely why shows like OOO and Kuuga and Fourze resonate a lot with me and why I fell in love with Toku to begin with. So someone like Yaguruma who the show goes out of its way to frame as the most honest person ever instantly had me in love... and I'll have to stop there, otherwise I'll be spoiling his entire arc even if I say how I feel about it. Point is, I loved him here and everything that's going on with him.

I envy you..

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

He's a fascinating character when compared to Tendou

This is something of a trend with the Riders in this show, actually, in that most of them seem deliberately set up as rivals that mirror very particular aspects of Tendou and then go off in some wild direction with them. Yaguruma is all about perfection, and also has a massive ego; Daisuke greatly values his personal freedom and independence, while also having a massive ego; and then Kageyama... also has a massive ego, judging by this latest episode. Lots of massive egos in Kabuto, now that I think about it!

[Kamen Rider Die]

I've still got four minutes left to go in Episode 14, but hello Special Guest Star:



It's Shiro from Ryuki, my fourteenth favorite character from that series! Surprisingly, he is my favorite thing in the ZECT storyline from this episode, and potentially the only part of it I'm excited to talk about. And he finally figured out what to do with his hands: try to kill Kagami with them!

[Kurona]

Man, this was a -lot- more of a 35th anniversary season than I remember...

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Man, this was a -lot- more of a 35th anniversary season than I remember...

Shirou's not even the only Very Special Guest in this episode!