[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Shun dressing up as a clown took me and the friend I watched Fourze with so off guard that it's become a running gag between us ever since.

It is Shun at both his most monomaniacally-focused (he has to prove to Miu that he understands he was being an idiot right now, in the midst of a pitched battle with Zodiarts, instead of piloting Power Dizer), but also him at his most big-hearted, since he's at peace with leaving the KRC for his own future, because they'll figure something out if he's not around, which means they did a good job as their mentors. Also, he's an America Clown?!?!

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 26 - “A SUBLIME SLOW DANCE”



I like how this one just lets you sit with Miu and Shun graduating, and what the KRC means to them both.

There aren’t really any huge twists or turns in this episode, which I think is smart. The Switcher is exactly the girl you think it is (Yayoi) for exactly the reason you think it is (not wanting to leave Amanogawa High behind). What that leaves us with is a more character-driven story of how you sometimes need to say goodbye to things, but you don’t have to say goodbye to the way those things changed you.

Like, Miu and Shun have to graduate; it’s happening no matter how they feel about it. Yayoi’s plan to attack prom is some Switch-sponsored lunacy, since it’s not like any attack will let her keep going to school forever. High school’s done, and they all need to leave it with as much grace as possible. Getting to really dwell on how they each feel about it, and what they want to take from the experience is basically all I wanted from this one. I just wanted it to feel consequential, and it did. We get multiple scenes with Gentarou acting as a sounding board for Shun and Miu, letting each character express their ambivalence about leaving a thing that meant so much to them, and that they aren’t ready to leave yet. That’s it. That’s this episode.

Except, I sort of lied up above, because there is a twist to this episode: Miu and Shun are staying on as advisors for the KRC. It’s a reasonable twist, them both realizing that the friendships they made don’t have to end just because they graduated, and leaving their friends is also abandoning their mission. Who they got to be because they joined the KRC isn’t done, because things like Friendship and Motivation don’t end just because you graduate. Shun and Miu still want to protect their school, and they still want to help their friends – neither of those require either of them to be high school students! You can still hang out on the moon as a university student!

But this nicely isn’t framed as a regression, or them clinging to past glory. Miu and Shun still graduate, and they go to prom, and Miu gets her dance with Gentarou, and it’s all very sweet, the pin the show puts in their story. (Those flashbacks to them joining the KRC! My heart!) Their membership in the KRC has never been about their academics, or their shared role as students; it’s about them all being friends and caring about their school, and that hasn’t changed.

I loved this episode, even if I can’t really pull much out of it. (I’m also sick today! Writing this has been a struggle!) The things that make it work are performance-based, or nice shots, or just a general bittersweet tone. I love how seriously the show takes Miu’s sadness, or Shun’s affection. Sometimes that’s all it takes for a beautiful episode of Kamen Rider Fourze!

[Androzani84]

Like you say, this time the Switcher was kind of obvious. Though for me, it was because there are 4 guest characters with 3 of them having appeared as the Switcher in prior episodes.

And speaking of the obvious suspects.

Sentai-lert

Our villain of the week his time is played by Kasumi Suzuki, who was previously major villain Lije (and her unnamed heroic clone) in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger as a child actress, and Jyuka’s friend who unleashed a Worm in the high school two-parter from Kabuto.

Also, thoughts on the episode ending: The university the graduates go to being round the corner is an obvious cop-out because they aren’t going to jettison two of the heroes halfway through the series (unless the actors had to leave and/or were fired)

[Switchblade]

First of all, as a fan of a good dolly zoom I want to call out the truly excellent one the show pulled off in 25 after Miu rejected Shun's first promposal.

Second, this arc actually hit me surprisingly hard this time. Not sure if I'm just in the right mood for it, but everything with Shun, Miu, and even Yayoi and their various graduation anxieties really landed for me this time. Probably one of my favorite couplet of episodes from Fourze.

The Rider Girls song is still butt, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Fourze 25-26

The graduation/prom arc, wherein the Kamen Rider Club must face the reality of losing two of their members while the show must justify keeping the whole cast intact.

I actually really like this two-parter. The Zodiart is pretty underdeveloped and her plan to trick people into thinking that older Zodiarts are back leads to some nice cameos, but not a lot more. Oh, and inconsistent translation of the constellation names, I suppose. No, the main focus of this arc was on the characters. Miu and Shun are about to graduate and they're having trouble. Miu is quietly freaking out about the prospect of the KRC continuing on fine without her and Shun is freaking out because Miu won't go to prom with him (as a side note, even if I didn't think "promposals" were stupid, I would still find Shun's ideas increasingly idiotic - what was he even going to do in a clown suit?). This leads to a lot of good character moments, especially if you've been a long-time Gentarou/Miu shipper. The show really pulls out a lot of stops to say farewell to these characters... only to reveal at the end that they're still going to be in the KRC. It's a cute ending, though, and it doesn't feel like it invalidates the build-up.

The other big thing about this arc is that episode 26 features the series debut of the Rider Girls. The Rider Girls, if you're newer to Kamen Rider, is an idol group that Toei put together to promote Kamen Rider. Their main gimmick was that each one wore a Rider belt and dressed in colors vaguely related to their respective Rider. They did a cover of the original show's theme song, contributed songs to a couple of Rider movies, and made a guest appearance in this episode to sing a song for the AGHS prom. And then they more or less disappeared. I looked them up awhile ago and apparently they're still a thing, although I don't know if they've contributed to anything official for Kamen Rider in years. I assume they just do birthday parties and mall openings now. I didn't like their song back when this first aired and my opinion of it has not changed.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? No, but she has begun flailing around more when she speaks. That's probably not a good sign.

So I decided to check and see if the Rider Girls are still still a thing, six-and-a-half years after I last rewatched the episode. Their website hasn't been updated since 2019, but they put a new song and multiple remixes of it on YouTube just last August so I guess they are.

Here's a highly apropos thing they posted three years ago:

Absolute banger of a cover, IMO.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also, thoughts on the episode ending: The university the graduates go to being round the corner is an obvious cop-out because they aren?t going to jettison two of the heroes halfway through the series (unless the actors had to leave and/or were fired)

I thought we all learned not to quibble about narratively-convenient tokusatsu geography!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Absolute banger of a cover, IMO.

Ha ha, I found that album through a streaming service on a road trip a few years back, and the covers are really good. They've got a Kiva cover on there as well that was pretty fun!

[Fish Sandwich]

I think it's interesting that this two-parter also happens to come at the exact halfway mark of the series. It sort of adds a meta dimension to the themes being explored. Granted, I don't think I actually thought much about that at the time, but it's interesting to think that as soon as you've watched 25, the episodes you have left to watch are outnumbered by the ones you've already seen.

I'd imagine someone on the staff definitely made those connections though, because they don't forget after this that these ones established the official graduation song for Fourze, in case they might want to invoke the themes of these episodes again for some very obvious reason in the future.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd imagine someone on the staff definitely made those connections though, because they don't forget after this that these ones established the official graduation song for Fourze, in case they might want to invoke the themes of these episodes again for some very obvious reason in the future.

You're crazy! Get out of here with your crazy speculation.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 19 - “THE MATCHLESS STEEL DRAGON”

I love how much I never know what episode I’m going to get on this show. And not in the usual way of me forgetting plot points or mystery solutions – I’ve completely forgotten who the Dragon Zodiart is, for example – but in how the massive cast of diverse characters means any scene could have anyone in it, and any episode could focus on anyone in the cast. For example: Kengo! Why not do a whole story about Kengo, from Kengo’s perspective? It’s a smart choice, leveraging the tenuousness of the Last OG KRC Member’s connection to Gentarou in order to talk about Ryuusei’s destabilizing effect on the club’s core dynamic, with a heavy emphasis on Kengo’s prickly personality and fear of abandonment.

I guess the series do take note of Kengo and Ryusei's similarity, where not only that Ryusei, though has the opposite of being two-faced, also acts like Kengo against Gentaro at first, but in different environment after KRC was formed and that Gentaro has successfully united the student body. Here, Ryusei is also depicted as a technical support in KRC as well, which was Kengo's role. Dragon Zodiart even thinks Kengo might be Meteor. I wonder about how Ryusei ends up becoming a technical support, where JK at least thinks he's good with machines, which I wonder if Gentaro wants to see how useful Ryusei can be, according for JK's remarks, he can work on Power Dizer instead?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I get Kengo in this one, sadly. I see part of me in him. There’s a thing I feel, where I need to be providing value to a group or community, or I’ll… I don’t know, be overlooked, be unwelcome, vanish. If I’m not contributing in some way, my friendship isn’t worthy of reciprocation, or my existence isn’t enough. I can see that in Kengo here. He had a role, and a purpose, and now that’s been usurped by Ryuusei. He was the Switch Guy, and now he isn’t. To the rest of the club – who don’t have defined roles or clear purposes – this isn’t a huge deal. Everyone contributes in whatever way they can, to whatever extent they can, whenever called upon, but that’s not what the Club is; it’s a group of friends, and that group chooses to fight monsters. No one’s getting kicked out because they can’t offer anything, and no one’s made redundant by a new member. But Kengo doesn’t it see it that way – they needed him, and now they don’t. To Kengo, need and want are the same thing in a friendship; if they don’t need him, they also don’t want him. So he quits in a huff, and goes to join a completely different story.

Ryusei is depicted as someone who might outshine Kengo and make him useless, but honestly, for all Kengo's fears, Ryusei was constantly wrong, that the Magnet Switch really isn't ready, and none of his tips worked against Dragon Zodiart. And for being a martial artist, it seems that Meteor didn't really do differently to Dragon Zodiarts, where I feel that, perhaps as a better trained fighter, he should perhaps know what weak points or joints to attack in Dragon Zodiart's otherwise hard body (or perhaps it should be what tips Ryusei gave to Gentaro). I do think though, Kengo do genuinely view Gentaro as an idiot for ep. 18 one, so it's not his usual way, but Gentaro IS an idiot at least in lessons as seen in him struggling to solve simple math question. One can be an idiot but valuable in other stuff, like social for Gentaro. I do relate to Kengo as well that I feel I'd be overlooked, or unwelcome, or invisible in a group if not having value, including here for Tokunation. I've lashed out as well (including recently), likely not in an ideal place, due to the perceived uselessness or unwelcome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I kind of love that, how we’re in an episode of "Kengo (feat. Fourze)". It’s Kengo getting his feelings hurt, and feeling worthless, until he can find someone else who needs him, and it’s a girl that clearly has a crush on him who did not watch Episode 1, Scene 1, so that’s going to go great. It’s an especially absurd and melodramatic episode of the show, befitting the lens of the most petulant and hotheaded member of the cast. The track coach is sneering and possessive to a degree that even the Amanogawa HR department that let Ohsugi and Hayami orbit Sonoda to varying levels of creepiness would feel the need to step in, while Kengo and Gen practically brawl their way through multiple scenes in a way that the Faiz cast would think was crossing a line. (Great direction in this one, as an aside. Lots of long takes, and multiple stages of action happening within the frame: the brawl in the Hatch, Rumi coming out from behind the sign, a few of the Dragon fights.) It’s a Kengo story, with a Kengo baseline of Helpful Rudeness for everything else in the story to calibrate off of.

Amanogawa HR department would obviously let at least Hayami orbit Sonoda, or at least are nothing compared to Gamou who leads the school, where Hayami is his right hand man. The school itself is the kaijin organization like Smart Brain! Egawa's main defining trait is her height (I can't find her actress' Yuki Kato - an exactly similar name of an actress in my country! height, but she might be even taller than something like Reika from Saber or Glotta from Gavv with Kengo being 172 cm, which is similar to those two's height), and this flips the stereotype of girls being the brains and the boys being the brawn, where Kengo's the brains to Egawa's brawn. Honestly, even for ep. 5-6, Gentaro acted like Faiz character in not telling Kengo and just distancing himself from him, which makes the problem worse like Kengo being able to use different tactics to Unicorn.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Ryusei is depicted as someone who might outshine Kengo and make him useless, but honestly, for all Kengo's fears, Ryusei was constantly wrong, that the Magnet Switch really isn't ready, and none of his tips worked against Dragon Zodiart.

Yeah, I like that Kengo was right because he cared about making sure Gentarou won safely, while Ryuusei only cared about the victory. It's a good message!

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 20 - “THE UNIVERSAL MAGNETIC FORCE”

It’s churlish to start this post off with a picture of Miu, since it’s an episode about Kengo and Gentarou’s friendship, with crucial contributions by Ryuusei, but I can’t pretend that Miu, Tomoko, and JK getting dressed up in a series of costumes to dig in the frozen, barren wasteland of Amanogawa High’s nearby lake and forest didn’t make me just as happy as this installment’s cathartic resolution to the show’s preeminent bromance, if not more so. (She’s so great in those fatigues!) It’s this show, man – a whole episode that’s centered on the three ostensible male leads, but it somehow found time for an adorably goofy and absolutely integral subplot in which Miu showcases her exemplary leadership skills. I’m not being weird for thinking this sequence was the greatest thing in toku for the year 2012!

I guess the credit for Miu's leadership seems to be about her directing on where to likely find the Magnet Switches, but Tomoko brings out her own idea that finally does find the Magnet Switches. I think that the members' own idea, independent from anyone other than the leader, deserves as much credit, albeit they likely aren't as good as leaders in directing people, which'd be their value, but the team members' agency, even if they potentially outshine the leaders or unthinkable to them, shouldn't be curbed. Nomoto's an actual example of that, who thinks all credit should go to him as the leader and claims that every success in the track field team is due to him, rejecting any different ideas even though it may be better, like Kengo's suggestions to Egawa's even after Kengo joined Nomoto's club (she was the friend Kengo knew before the series, which is why he was nice to her, unlike the girl in ep. 1; even when Kengo was still hostile to Gentaro, he was also nice to Yuki since the start of the series).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Putting that stellar bit of heartwarming comedy aside, there is (unbelievably!) more to talk about. We get the conclusion to Gentarou and Kengo’s most recent permanent rift, and it’s a solid bit of melodrama, even if the extremes of both Gentarou’s abasement and Kengo’s steamed hamminess starts to unravel the intriguing character work. (I like how Shun just LOSES it on Kengo when he does yet another We Don’t Need Gentarou thing as the Dragon Zodiart is attacking. Kengo just wants to keep his friend safe, but he’s ALSO being a big petulant baby and Shun is the one that’s just had it with him in this episode. I love it! I love that one guy’s sick of coddling these two dummies!) While Gen and Kengo spend most of the episode orbiting one another and trying to navigate a way back to their friendship, it’s somehow Ryuusei who becomes the key to getting things back in order.

Nomoto and Shun are established as knowing each other, but it was never touched upon again. I guess this episode really answers about what you said before, about how the possessiveness of track day team captain being possessive, or Hayami being kept on, because Gamou is the owner of the school, so those two are what directly serves Gamou's goal and he prevents people investigating the school, albeit even Gamou threatens Hayami a bit for his failures. This is the meaning of the reveal that Sonoda was Scorpio, not about her, but about the school body itself, it's not an outlier in Gamou being the only monster but the school body is the villainous organization as a whole, with Sonoda being one of them. I feel that Gentaro's actually more hostile and jerkish at the end of the episode rather than throughout this two parter, where at the end of episode, he actually provokes Kengo into fighting, but previously, though unknowingly hurting Kengo's feelings, Gentaro always tried to reason with Kengo like trying to make him get along with Ryusei, insisting that it's important to see what Ryusei can do, or trying to make up with Kengo by proving the Magnet Switch works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Which, it’s funny, because Ryuusei is way way way more annoyed at this story than Shun is, and way way way earlier. Miu sticking Ryuusei on the team that needed a deft touch and real empathy was such a hilarious misapplication of Ryuusei’s phony, secretly-snide bullshit that I was expecting another series of eyerolls and muttered judgment. But the show smartly layers Gen and Kengo’s most recent permanent rift over Ryuusei’s falling out with Jirou, and it brings more of the real guy to the surface in this story. (Just in time! I am finding Obsequious Phony Ryuusei to be a less-is-more situation, after just a few episodes.) Ryuusei hears Kengo’s typically grandiose statements about the finality of his friendship with Gen, coupled with the same attitude he had when he flung a girl’s love letter off of a bridge (surely not worth pointing out how that tone is now being used for his platonic friendship, sure, okay, right) and hears the awful things he and Jirou said to each other, right before Jirou was encomatosed by a cosmic collectible, and he can’t sit idly by and maintain his cover while two friends don't realize how precious their bond is through the haze of anger. Ryuusei has to get these two to realize that they’re both being headstrong and possessive and overly protective, but since they’re both doing it, it shows how much they actually care about each other – what looked like opposing force was really just the same force coming into conflict.

So turns out that Ryusei is more helpful than what I thought he would be based on him dismissing Fourze in fighting and friendship including letting Lynx go, and is only faking everything in KRC for his mission. I meant about him actually guiding Fourze as Meteor like him as a technical support to Gentaro before like him telling Fourze what to attack on Dragon Zodiart and buying time with Electric Switch (which for Meteor, it doesn't create a new form, I wonder what'd happen if a Switch about tools is used on him). More similarities of Ryusei and Kengo where Ryusei also had a fallout with Jiro like Kengo does to Gentaro here, and as Ryusei is hellbent on saving Jiro which was a result of their fallout, he has a decency to prevent others going through similar thing as him, thus he's actually being helpful to KRC, guess as Gentaro said, Ryusei showing anger is more honest in him grabbing Kengo's collar. I guess the reason Ryusei finally acknowledges KRC as a good team is due to seeing Kengo not repeating his mistake.