[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I wonder if Yukina's the predecessor of Seina Tsukumo from Gotchard (Houtaro's childhood friend from ep. 30-31). Seina does have jealousy issues, but Yukina has outright twisted side to coerce Yuki into doing what she wants in damaging her belongings. She also pushes a shopkeeper away and force Yuki to look worse so she can't outshine Yukina. Case of women bringing each other down (only Yukina does this, obviously, including when she knows Yuki isn't dating Gentaro). While Tamae and Ritsuko wanted to ask Gentaro to the prom because he helped them to be free from Zodiart influence, I wonder what made Yukina like Gentaro (Seina too has a promise with Houtaro). As Yukina puts it, Gentaro likes all of humanity, but Gentaro only ever had eyes for Nadeshiko as a romantic interest.

I actually like Yukina. A lot of that is for what we learn in part two of this story, but she also spends most of this episode tormenting Yuuki and I am always down for Yuuki getting tormented (we'll come back to this in a few episodes).

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

What seems to be an interesting premise, or perhaps what should be more focused, is how perhaps Gentaro and other KRC members are put into a situation like Ryusei, that they have to be secretive about something, with non-KRC members tagging along (though Gentaro can invite people to join KRC like Miura, or having people want to join them like Ran and Haru). This may be a roadblock of Gentaro wanting to befriend others, like Ryusei putting a facade against the KRC.

I don't know that it would get in the way of Gentarou befriending others? It hasn't really affected his status at school, with him forming bonds with tons of different students. And he isn't as secretive about his heroics as Ryuusei is -- Ryuusei has to keep things a secret because of Tachibana's rules, while Gentarou and the KRC are keeping things quiet to more effectively combat the Zodiarts. (Gentarou has told dozens of people that he's Fourze! But only when they already know about the Zodiarts!)

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 34 - “SKY HOLE COUNTER-OFFENSIVE”



Where were we? Oh, right: Holes.

There’s a lot of plotting and discussing around Holes, and I wasn’t that crazy about it. It’s decent background, bringing in Emoto and clarifying Gamou’s connection to Kengo’s dad, but the basic plot feels like something you could excise entirely from this series. We hadn’t heard about the competing Hole in Kyoto before, and this two-parter eliminates it to protect the sanctity and allure of Gamou’s Hole, so it’s all kind of inconsequential by the end. We didn’t get weeks of lead-up, or anything. This wasn’t some foreshadowed anything, if I recall; it’s backstory wrapped in a plot development that’s introduced and resolved in basically the same sentence. Nice to meet Emoto, and Gamou’s little I Blame Myself For Not Being Heroic Enough To Keep Your Dad From Getting Himself Killed speech is cute, but the idea of Gamou needing to make his Hole the only Hole is entirely new information right before it is entirely irrelevant information.

But that’s just trivia and setup, because the meat of this story is about Gentarou, and the hole he fills for the students of Amanogawa High.

(Sorry, I will stop bringing up holes.)

Yukina’s still not great in this episode – too screechy, too high-energy – but I like what she represents. I like remembering that Gentarou’s friends want to protect him the same way he wants to protect his friends, and that there’s, like, a reciprocity of derangement to the whole situation when you consider the way Gentarou has shaped the kids at Amanogawa High. Where Gentarou will go to insane lengths to protect his friends and show them how much they mean to him, Yukina represents a student body that will go to insane lengths to give Gentarou the high school life that he’s constantly endangering by suiting up as Kamen Rider Fourze. That’s sweet, you know? I don’t love her grating acting choices, or the way the episode has her start at 11 and move to 15 real quick, but the core concept is really affecting: the kids love Gentarou, and resent that he has to be Fourze. The don’t idolize or appreciate him for being Fourze, they idolize and appreciate him in spite of him being Fourze; his value to the school is himself, not a superhero.

Which makes for a nice investigation into what Fourze really is, and how it relates to Gentarou’s personality – Fourze isn’t what puts Gentarou into danger, it’s what protects him from the danger he puts himself in for his friends. My favorite Kamen Rider thing is how it twists that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility trope from American superheroes to do the inverse: With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power. Gentarou will do anything to protect his friends and their chances for happiness, and the Fourze Driver just lets him do that at a bigger scale. Taking the Driver away doesn’t keep him from fighting the Horoscopes, because Gentarou would never put himself (and his safety) ahead of what other people need. It’s a nice heroic moment, mostly articulated by Yukina and Yuuki because you know that Gentarou does not think about this stuff in this way.

But I do! I liked getting this little moment for Gentarou, especially because the rest of the episode was a mix of plotting that felt self-negating, and a bunch of cute scenes that didn’t add up to a whole lot. (Sorry!) I liked the Kengo/Ryuusei scenes, because it felt better calibrated and more thoughtful than the Gen/Ryuusei scenes from last time; I liked the Leo/Libra scene, because it had a moody and adult energy to it that nicely contrasted with how wacky everything was with Yukina up to that point; and I liked Hayami groveling for his life to avoid the Dark Nebula, and debasing himself so hard that he leveled up, which is just Chef’s Kiss for that guy’s character. All good scenes, but it felt like it was helping transition the overall series arc, not stuff that was creating a cohesive story across these two episodes.

Still! Can’t go wrong with a definitive moment for Gentarou’s version of heroism!

[Androzani84]

The most I can say about this episode in particular is that I like the scenery.

Can’t say I’m keen on Leo as a character, mostly because of how pointless he is to the plot. I feel they could’ve just had him be a MotW and the story wouldn’t change much.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Can?t say I?m keen on Leo as a character, mostly because of how pointless he is to the plot. I feel they could?ve just had him be a MotW and the story wouldn?t change much.

I don't know, I like him okay? I like how he's an additional pressure on Hayami, whose near-death experience with Fourze in the vacuum of space is somehow just the precursor to an even more terrifying meeting with Gamou, because we are in the phase of this show where Libra is constantly terrified of being Dark Nebulaed, instead of just frequently terrified. Leo gets to be the grown-up for Hayami to interact with, after a dozen-plus episodes of deranged students and sycophantic acolytes. Leo's just, like, Do Your Job, Man, and he'll fight a dude outside a bar if it gets things how Gamou wants them. I enjoy his professionalism and walnut-based diet!

[Fish Sandwich]

I think this two-parter is another one like the Cygnus episodes for me where, also not too dissimilar to Die again, I kinda appreciate it more in theory than I seem to enjoy it in practice? My lasting impression from the time is the same vague sense that it just wasn't ~quite~ as exciting for me as Fourze always was, even though I was still having fun. My impression of it from a rewatch, thinking much more actively about these shows year later, just kinda isn't any particular impression at all? I didn't suddenly recognize it as some secret masterpiece, but I didn't come away thinking "oh, they obviously messed *such-and-such* up" either.

The decision to follow up the big climactic final form debut with something that is both literally a sort of vacation episode yet also expands the lore greatly to move us into the next chapter, I actually think that's pretty dang smart and appropriate, but it just doesn't really get me going, in spite of that? I was actually just recently reminded one of the bits of mythos here is meant to explain Fourze's PlayStation button limbs, and it was a "reminder" because I've never thought about that explanation at all in the nearly 15 years since. I'm not sure exactly what that suggests about the story here, since that's just one little part of it, but I feel like it might represent some kind of larger reason these ones don't stick with me too much, even with plenty of neat concepts in there.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I was actually just recently reminded one of the bits of mythos here is meant to explain Fourze's PlayStation button limbs, and it was a "reminder" because I've never thought about that explanation at all in the nearly 15 years since. I'm not sure exactly what that suggests about the story here, since that's just one little part of it, but I feel like it might represent some kind of larger reason these ones don't stick with me too much, even with plenty of neat concepts in there.

Yeah, this is an episode that fills in a bunch of blanks I never really cared about, or don't think the staging and implementation feels especially clever. There's a flashback scene with Kengo's dad saying out loud to Gamou and Emoto the same thing he wrote on the exterior of the Rabbit Hatch, and I'm like, was this necessary? How is this better than Kengo finding it in a moment of terror and loss, or Gamou giving his version of events in the rain? Having Fourze's icons need an explanation on an otherwise emotional and heroic field trip story just feels like a wiki entry intruding on a toku show.