[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Oh, wow.

[DreadBringer]

Episode 20 really highlights the dangerous mentality of Accel refusing to be questioned, in how he rejects and berates W for trying to reason with him he's relentlessly brutal in trying to take down Makiko, the supposed Dopant, in her human form due to her taking everything away from him as W Memory owner.

According to Shotaro, the value expected from Kamen Rider is to hate the criminal act, not the criminal itself - which means not killing someone after they no longer pose a threat. And ofc, at this stage, Accel berates Shotaro as naive (yeah, half-boiled is just the substitute mockery for this) and attacks. Even Akiko, who shills Accel before, now instead jumps in Shotaro's defense, and Accel de-henshins, but declares his hatred against Fuuto again, claiming that the city and people there are rotten. If Terui refers to 'rotten' here as in people who object to him, including condemning non-toxic flaw like being "naive", then he'd possess self-righteous views, "with us or against us" mentality, telling them they have no right to stop him after finding the supposed monster, viewing everyone but him as in the wrong.

Even Akiko too laments that the 'cool, sharp, and capable' Terui have really violent side, reminding that in that kind of person, negative traits aren't the part of their coolness (e.g. "chad") and can't be played up as admirable like Terui's brutality, despite some audiences doing so. Philip suspects personal connection between the freezing attacks and Terui, while describing hard-boiled as those who ruthlessly pursue their belief, having iron will, which refers to Terui. This one's not shilling though, more like talking about why being hard-boiled doesn't actually work, going against Shotaro's values - a deconstruction. Phillip outright labels Accel as insane - Terui lashes out again for being a "know-it-all" regarding his feelings, but Philip's rational is put in good use here, he acknowledges that, but is also why Terui had to tell them to actually solve the problem, the very reason he hired the protagonist trio. W claims that Accel losing composure reduces his fighting effectivity.

Makiko's son Kiyoshi being cold to his mother, made Accel jump into the conclusion that Makiko is so despicable that the son won't defend her and resumes his attack. Accel also assumes Shotaro lets the supposed criminal continue her attack unprovoked, which seems to be how the Fuuto people is 'rotten' in his eyes, and Accel claims he's just doing his job as officer. W points out that Accel was only fighting for vendetta, though Accel admits that as he reverts to Terui. Duty as officer? More like Terui knows nothing/being blinded about that, as murdering criminals constantly with no trial or conviction is a criminal act itself, especially that it comes from a cop himself, not from a vigilante.

Which, as Shotaro pointed out, the consequence of revenge and violence is that being blinded by it so much that Terui almost killed the wrong person, after telling his story that his family was killed by a freezing attack and his father bringing up W Memory... Especially in series like W where the Dopants are like Riders, only strong in their Dopant form, but is completely normal in human form which can be easily subdued. And contrary to popular belief that when someone is angered so much (except those that literally have anger as actual superpower) they can mow anything in their way, the reason why those traits are often glorified by fanbase and wish heroes tap into that more, instead you won't be able to keep clear head with W saying it reduces Accel's fighting capabilities.

Their clearer head allows to reveal the truth that the real reason of Makiko's infamy is due to Kiyoshi, finally gets through Terui's thick head that he almost killed an innocent (while the real culprit of Terui's family is discussed by Saeko and Wakana). By that Terui is still disgusted but conflicted at Shotaro's "naivety". Akiko admits to him that Shotaro is half-boiled, but the scene plays it out as acknowledging it as endearing part of Shotaro instead, reminds me of Kagami in Kabuto being 'praised' for his idiocy due to him rushing to do the right things. By this, Terui handcuffs Kiyoshi instead, Shotaro at least succeeded making Terui change a bit to play by his rules (actually law rules are like that in the first place) there, with his half-boiled traits held in higher regard (even Shotaro only calmly denies it there).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

"Going after people without thinking twice is logical".... Yeah, that sounds like the kind of contradiction that edgy guys would come up with. Empathy and hatred can both cloud a person's judgment and the latter is clearly detrimental here, since Terui was about to kill the wrong man.

Yeah, Terui's personality seems closer to fellow serious red jacket-wearing big bro Ryouga than Rintarou, although Mei did show some respect to Ryouga as well. All three Riders are similar in their values and sense of loyalty, so Akiko's and Mei's romantic preferences may also be similar.

About that contradiction, unfortunately the consequences of those trait isn't always shown in other characters possessing those traits in other media, or worse, in addition to portraying actual morality - compassionate stances, as being ineffective (while thinking that being heroic/moral is simply destroying evil), where their accomplishment feels like because it's "plot armor" or handed to them. Even though mistakes may occur, some people may insist that, it's not those "hard-boiled" traits that caused the problem, they just needed to change some key decisions and it'd end well. About what you said before of something like impulsiveness or recklessness saving the day, those too can lead into unpleasant outcomes like Terui did here eh?

Like most of the secondary Riders, Terui's initially an anti-hero, as while he's a cop doing his job (not a corrupt one), he had several unpleasant traits like being driven by personal reasons like hatred and revenge, the brutality and violence in carrying his will, and the self-righteousness to reject reasoning until now, all which are needed to be kept in check. Even if anti-heroes are subcategory of heroes, doesn't mean they don't have to work towards becoming better persons all-round, though indeed Terui concedes here after he did dismiss people like Shotaro as naive. For what you said of empathy clouding a person's judgment, it just proves that goody two shoes aren't perfect unlike what people complain about them, they're also flawed (which they should work upon, commonly naivety for KR), albeit those flaws aren't making them lean to grey morality unlike hatred.

[Kamen Rider Die]

SHOTARO HIDARI HARDBOILED DELUSION DIARY EPISODE 5 - “WHAT IF RYU WAS A PRIVATE DETECTIVE?”



I mean, just look at that title, and then look at that screencap. Look at how this thing moves from What If Ryu Was The Main Detective For The Narumi Detective Agency, all the way to Shotaro Has Accidentally Shot And Killed A Bird Dopant That Is Also A Beloved Police Detective. Just… just let that settle in. Really marinate in that thought.

This was easily the best Delusion Diary yet, and one that’ll be hard to top going forward. Shotaro’s inability to dream of a life that affords him the respect of his friends and coworkers continues to be a hilarious and depressing expression of his psychological shortcomings, and his nightmare of being Santa is incredibly insightful. (Santa is a fun dude that no one cares about, and his gifts are generally overlooked due to his clownish exterior!) This whole thing is a riot, and yet it makes me very sad for Shotaro.

That said, it completely tracks that Shotaro’s coffee is too sweet, since he is a child.

[Enchilada645]

I have to agree, this was the best one yet.

Usually we have some degree of control or some kind of favor towards Shotaro's side before it goes off the wall. The delusion is compromised from minute one and that makes it so much fun. Ryu in Shotaro's attire is cursed btw. From Shotaro being Santa-chan to Bird Dopant Detective (I love the badge being accurate), to Shotaro killing said hard-working officer of the law.

Genius, all of it.

Also again, some fun lore tidbits like seeing what Shotaro's coffee preferences are. Though considering he enjoyed Terui's coffee in the last episode...

Speaking of lore though, I wasn't expecting Akiko's absurd offers towards Terui to shift into Shotaro actually crunching the numbers and wondering if he's actually being paid properly. I honestly hope so considering how much work he does!

This is going to be a hard one to top for sure.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Speaking of lore though, I wasn't expecting Akiko's absurd offers towards Terui to shift into Shotaro actually crunching the numbers and wondering if he's actually being paid properly. I honestly hope so considering how much work he does!

I'd think Akiko was underpaying him, but I'm pretty sure that Shotaro is expensing more ridiculous stuff than Terui ever would. Windscale clothing isn't cheap!

[DreamSword]

Ah, right, I should probably actually say something about the Accel two-parter, yeah?

When I first saw it, I remember being overall fine with it, but now, on rewatch, I kinda have mixed feelings on it.

And maybe it's due to the difference between subs or whatever, but when it came to this watch, I ended feeling as if I did't quite know what these two episodes were trying to say, if anything.

Like, the first part especially has every character noting how cool and smart and effective Terui is, but yet, if you bother to compare his performance to like, any other episodes, he's actually going about things really ineffectively while being a petty asshat to everyone.

Sure, I'm like 70% positive that that's the point, that the show is trying to show just how unbearable dealing with a stereotypical "hard-boiled" type would be in reality, but again, you have every character singing his praises throughout a majority of the run time. Meaning the characters are saying one thing while the narrative is saying another.

On top of that, this is now a rewatch, meaning that I now have the power hindsight. And while the two episodes work well enough in isolation, what with Terui's' arc being about how his desire for revenge blinded him and how he manages to come around in the end, in terms of series composition is ends up not being too great given that this whole arc, which only took two episodes, will now be repeated again but stretched out way longer.

So, yeah, mixed feelings overall. Still a better debut than a certain other character we'll meet in a year, atleast.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Sure, I'm like 70% positive that that's the point, that the show is trying to show just how unbearable dealing with a stereotypical "hard-boiled" type would be in reality, but again, you have every character singing his praises throughout a majority of the run time. Meaning the characters are saying one thing while the narrative is saying another.

To me, these episodes are definitely about spotlighting Terui's badass grim determination, only to reveal that we're really spotlighting Shotaro's decency and empathy. I don't know that I feel like there's any huge disconnect between the narrative and the characters (Akiko pretty quickly flips on Terui once he tries to murder someone), but I can understand finding Terui's insanity to be too mcuh.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 21 - “THE RETURN OF T - THAT MELODY DOESN’T SUIT A LADY”



This one was… not great. It’s methodical in its build-out of Detective Kujo, but it’s all in service of both a plot that’s blindingly obvious, and a theme that’s sort of unnecessary.

Let’s do the second one first, as we always do.

I don’t know if the second story we get with Terui in a lead role should be The Perils Of Seeking Vengeance. Like, it would be nice if the show let him have a single other characteristic before immediately contrasting him with a potential love interest that is compromising her integrity in order to hunt down the people who stole her happiness and killed someone close to her. I think it’s maybe okay to save that until Episode 23, maybe? At the earliest? I mean, Terui isn’t going anywhere, and we ended the last episode with him being confronted with the horrible cost of his crusade vis a vis almost murdering an innocent woman in broad daylight. His vendetta hasn’t gone anywhere, and clearly isn't going anywhere, so maybe we can get a two-parter that’s a little less His Only Deal, you know?

It doesn’t help that we spend a ton of time to set up Detective Kujo’s backstory, lost love, and cast of victims in the first half of this episode. (For a story that feels like it’s going to tip too much into The Terui Show, this one goes all in on The Kujo Show.) It’s all sort of bland, and not exactly distracting – it’s pretty apparent from Kujo’s first appearance, right after the Triceratops Dopant splits, that she’s the mystery murderer. Everything after that just feels like it’s delaying the inevitable, and it doesn’t help this episode’s deliberate pacing. Tons of info to set up the motivation of a two-episode character, and it just doesn’t feel like time well spent.

It’s sort of an overall problem of this episode being overstuffed. Kujo’s given a ton of setup, and then Terui’s given a bunch of scenes with Kujo, and it all… again, it’s all too much, too soon. We just met this guy, and now he’s having a doomed romance that’s about His Only Deal, with the remaining Double cast left to orbit two other characters’ stories. This thing feels like it should’ve been a Kamen Rider Accel TELASA mystery around the summer movie, not two in-series episodes of Double directly after Terui debuts.

It’s not a total waste, though. The action’s strong, Mick shows up, Terui and Kujo have genuinely good chemistry, and I absolutely love that Shotaro’s way in to this story is that he just wants to humble Terui, the end. There’s some fun around the edges of this one, but the ratio of Fun to Kujo’s Life Story is way out of whack. At least they didn’t drag out the reveal of her being the Dopant past the cliffhanger?

—

DIE-A MEMORIES



-Like, I swear it’s not just me remembering how this one goes – it is SO OBVIOUS that Kujo’s the Dopant, and it made me roll my eyes when Shotaro’s like The Most Likely Suspect Is The Dead Man, Not The Alive Woman Who Spent Two Minutes Angrily Defending His Honor.

-We check in with Wakana and Saeko… and that’s basically all the scene was. Not a great use of two fun characters, but I’m surprised they managed to shoehorn them into this packed episode.

[Androzani84]

This was the first episode of Double I saw, so I’m going to have something of a bias towards it. Mostly, I like how we have an English-speaking character who actually speaks English, rather than slurring them badly.

And speaking of guest stars, it’s Koichi Sakamoto’s directorial debut for Kamen Rider (having previously done Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie for the Ultra Series), so we have two beeps of the…

Sentai-lert!

First up is our main guest Aya Kujo, portrayed by Ayumi Kinoshita, who previously portrayed a police detective with an amount of English dialogue in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger and a girl looking for revenge who has a disguised identity in Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds. It’s not the last time we’ll be seeing her in these Phase 2 rewatches either.

And the old guy who’s a decoy antagonist is played by Hiroo Ohtaka, who’s had a few minor roles in Rider productions (basically, he was the old dad in the Faiz movie and Prof. Odagiri in the Type Tokujou special from Drive). But in Sentai, he’s had some more substantial roles, namely the big bad High Bishop Gaja in GoGo Sentai Boukenger and a recurring oden cart owner in Avataro Sentai Donbrothers.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And speaking of guest stars, it?s Koichi Sakamoto?s directorial debut for Kamen Rider (having previously done Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie for the Ultra Series)

I didn't know this was hist first Rider gig, but I knew it was him. I wouldn't say he single-handedly kept Ayumi Kinoshita and Nao Nagasawa employed through the '10s, but he did a lot of projects with them, up to and including that movie they did together that I completely forgot about until I started writing this post. If I see either of them show up during this period I assume it's because Sakamoto is behind the lens.

Quote:

First up is our main guest Aya Kujo, portrayed by Ayumi Kinoshita, who previously portrayed a police detective with an amount of English dialogue in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Jasmine is an ESPer. By coming into contact with the same surface as someone, she can read their thoughts.