[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

So you'd think that Gentaro feels like an asshole for insisting to beat Kengo, I thought that Gentaro, the supposed nice guy, was being an asshole here for immediately going violent and accusing on Tomoko.

I think the show's just having fun with how into character Gentarou is getting with his investigation, and how he lets his emotions ramp things up to a ridiculous degree. It's funny to see him treat Tomoko like a scheming villain, when she's really just a helpful bystander. Gentarou sometimes gets a little too excited for his own good! Just like me, apparently...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I recall you expressing similar thoughts to this about Birth's debut during your OOO rewatch too, and I'm still really confused by this whole "guilty until proven innocent" approach you seem to be taking to these secondary Rider debuts all of a sudden? Like, I want to go ahead and prove the episode innocent, but I'm struggling to figure out exactly what it is you thought was egregious here?

I don't want to just write off these very fair criticisms of my writing as just "It was late when I wrote that, and I was tired, and I sort of wasn't feeling Meteor's debut, and I didn't really feel like talking about why because I found the rest of the episode way more interesting for a variety of previously-elucidated reasons", so let me try and say more without hopefully making you even more disappointed in me.

I didn't really hate this scene or anything? I found it a little trite, in a Heisei Q2 Debut way, but I don't begrudge the show a cool new Rider, or the merch to go along with it. Meteor isn't my guy for reasons I'll probably get to down the line, but I don't feel like he unnaturally pulls focus or warps the show through some production-mandated chicanery. (He actually gives Gentarou some of my favorite story beats?) What's here doesn't fatally wound an otherwise stellar episode that does literally everything I want Fourze to do; it was just the part of the show I was less into, and I maybe gave it short shrift in ways that did a disservice to the character's fans, but I wasn't trying to be intentionally malicious or dismissive. I thought it was kind of rote, and I tried to explain why, but I clearly just made things worse than if I'd've just skipped mentioning him at all and stuck to the parts that I found more appealing. This scene was a big enough deal to feel awkward to exclude, but I wasn't feeling it at the time. I'm sorry if it's a worrying trend, or if I've let anyone down. Not my intention!

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 03 - “THE QUEEN FESTIVAL COMPETITION”

With Miu, we’re in kind of a different space. She’s full-on Mean Girl Miu in this episode, assured of her own majesty and disdainful of everyone else in the school, most of all her adoring fans. She’s maliciously ungrateful, which bites her fully on her ass at the climax, where her mid-episode venom is replayed for all of her fans. There’s a little bit of back and forth between her and Gen over the course of the episode, a little runner about him betting her he can Pygmalion some other girl into beating her for Queen of the school (valiant effort from Yuuki, who correctly points out that three dancers in the talent portion should be against the rules), but it’s sort of just Miu being awful, she’s exposed as being awful, cliffhanger into next episode. It’s kind of hard to not just see it as just desserts, you know?

This was something similar as Kengo in episode 1 against the girl's letter. I wonder if Miu and Kengo's similarity in behavior would be pointed out. This is something that happened to the recurring cast though, unlike Yamano of OOO or Miura in ep. 2 before. Then again, other than Miu destroying the gifts, she still doesn't hide her snotty behavior in front of everyone, of which it doesn't affect her reputation unlike how she treats the gifts (of which she still completely ignores them when she's in public). I feel that for her default behavior she shouldn't only mistreat Gentaro, but just everyone except Shun and her own posse as everyone'd be inferior to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

What makes it work is that it feels like the second part of a third storyline this episode, about Gen refusing to give up on the Hopping Switch. Kengo thinks it’s difficult to control and marginally useful, so he immediately gives up on supplying it for Fourze. But Gen refuses to give up on it, pledging to keep using it until a purpose reveals itself – which it eventually does, securing a brief victory over the episode’s Zodiart. It’s a cute bit of heroism and dedication from Gen, but it’s kind of not really about the Switch. It’s about friendships.

Feels like Yugioh about insisting that no items are useless and Gentaro determined to prove about something that seems worthless to others, with as much determination as him wanting to make friends. Gentaro did say that he's about making the impossible possible before, so he's the type to encourage people to constantly chase after your dreams, where not every KR main characters cover this aspect like Eiji or Shoma. But shonen MCs are often the ones who are about being ambitious to a master dream, they won't inspire the jaded audience though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kengo instantly discards people who can’t help him in his mission, and that’s kind of his whole decision-making matrix when it comes to letting people in. With Gen, it’s… like, making friends with everyone means making friends with everyone. You gotta spend time with cool, passionate dorks like Yuuki, but you also gotta spend time with vain, imperious jerks like Miu. You might have to argue with them, or get insulted by them, or directly challenge their status and inherent sense of self, but in doing so you can get to know them enough to find the value in them. Refusing to even try out of dismissiveness or pragmatism isn’t some smart move, it’s laziness and lack of imagination. You never know which weirdo or jerk or sleazeball or constantly-fainting misanthrope could be your next new friend.

Then again, it's not like Gentaro would be the only one who wants to befriend Miu. Miu is so popular in school, so everyone wants a piece of her (at least even when she's visibly snotty to them outside of the gifts part), just like Gentaro. Popular jerks like Shun and Miu usually have a lot of friends in school (and a lot of people who has other awful behaviors that can be seen as entertaining like gossiping), the ones who people are less likely to be friend are the outcasts, people of lower status, or the people who don't bring anything on table, who feel like burden, where befriending them can carry a risk, not from them, but from the surroundings to likely humiliate you from befriending them. Meanwhile, being insulted by Shun/Miu would have everyone side with them. So far, the 'proof' I got from someone I met who claims to want to befriend everyone (other than me) is her willing to talk with a dustman.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Then again, it's not like Gentaro would be the only one who wants to befriend Miu. Miu is so popular in school, so everyone wants a piece of her (at least even when she's visibly snotty to them outside of the gifts part), just like Gentaro.

I think Gentarou's story is sort of the opposite to how everyone else treats her, though? Miu has a lot of fans, but she doesn't really have any friends: people who see her as something deeper than her status and beauty. Gentarou isn't trying to befriend her because she's the Queen of the school, he's doing it because she's someone he doesn't know yet, and he wants to fix that. Gentarou is directly challenging how she treats her fans, in order to find out who she is as a person. I think it's very sweet?

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER CLUB MEETING – QUIZ: KAMEN RIDER URBAN LEGENDS!! EPISODE 04



I love the naming conventions of the kids in Fourze, how they’re all barely-scrambled references to Showa Riders. It’s like if there was an American superhero show about a high school club devoted to Justice League history, populated by characters named Alan Barrett, Halle Jordan, and Wayne Bruin. (Hilariously, the upcoming secondary for this hypothetical show would be like Clark Kent being named Superman Jones instead.) It’s invisible if you don’t get the references – spoiler, it’s Showa, I’d never get the references without these quiz shows or y’all on the boards – but when you find out what the deal is, it speaks to the goofy nerds running the production team, and I love that. I like how Fourze feels less like a structured anniversary homage and more like a celebration of the inexplicable longevity of the franchise.

Along those lines, the answers in this quiz were typically bonkers (them kids dodging explosions!!!) in the way only Showa could really get away with, Yuuki was a game host, and Kengo looked incredibly tired. Plus, we learned that Riderman has a mouth because he has a mouth worth showcasing!