[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 32 - "THE LAST CARD: ZERO!"




Some really powerful emotional storytelling here, unfortunately focused on a plot that basically never landed for me.

We've spent the last day or so talking about the problems with the Airi/Sakurai/Yuuto plot. Things like Sakurai existing as an idea more than a character. Yuuto's lack of present-day connection to Airi. Airi's complete isolation from the emotional stakes of her own story. (A pretty fatal flaw to me!) Add to that the use of signifiers ahead of specificity (we get shown scenes of affection without finding out what the people involved really felt), and it's a plot that never really made me feel anything towards it. I could recognize that this was an unideal situation, but it didn't really feel like anyone was too broken up about it?

The show definitely tried to make it matter here at the end of the plot, though. (Or, "end" of the plot; I can't imagine we won't see further developments for Airi and Sakurai, at the very least.) Airi, for sure, is bringing so much pathos and heartbreak to her performance, a woman who is starting to understand the shape of the absence inside of her. Yuuto's raising his game as well, with his stoic resolve crumbling under the weight of a loss he's only now beginning to value. The direction, too! The dreamlike constellation pulling Airi out of her captivity. Yuuto breaking down a door and bathing her in light. The painful slowness of Airi starting to see Yuuto for who he really is and needing contact to make it all cohere in her memory. The impossible strength of Yuuto to watch that last card vanish, as the soundscape dissolves to his labored breathing, taking his past and future with it. It's trying so hard to make the stakes of this story work.

It almost manages it, but not quite.

The themes are good. The idea of your memories only having value if they can be used to make a brighter future, that's a strong message. Yuuto opting to give up the reason he's fighting in order to save Den-O and Deneb, that's an awesomely heroic move. Just, in general, it's saying smart, insightful things about letting the past go. It's an episode about acknowledging loss, to better open yourself up to new possibilities.

They just, man, Airi and Yuuto just never got there for me. A lot of it is down to how coy the show played with too many key elements. We're only just now learning that the Zeronos cards are Yuuto's... future? Sakurai's past? Memories of Sakurai? I don't even know exactly what they're supposed to be, and that's a huge drawback for what this episode's trying to accomplish emotionally. Which is pretty much the whole problem with the Airi/Sakurai/Yuuto plot: it takes forever for it to explain the stakes, and even then it's relentlessly vague about the specifics of those stakes. We never get a sense of how Yuuto really feels about this plot, since literally every time Ryotaro brings it up on behalf of the audience, Yuuto tells us to go screw. I can try and project what I think those characters are going through, what they're afraid of, but it's all projection, all inference. Yuuto won't talk about it, and Airi doesn't remember it. I am a sucker for these types of sci-fi bullshit temporal paradox love stories, but this show was giving me so little to hold onto.

I liked this episode more than I thought I would, since everyone involved is bringing a ton to the table. There is so much effort involved in landing this Airi/Sakurai/Yuuto plot. But, for me, it was too little, too late. Entertaining, and occasionally insightful, but not nearly as heartbreaking or haunting as it probably should've been. A for effort, though.



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-One of the few benefits of Less Hana seems to be More Naomi, and I do like that. (I wish it wasn't a zero sum calculation, though!) It's nice to see Mana-chan get to have more screen time. When I'd read that she was a part of this show after I finished Agito, I just assumed they'd give her a meaty part to play. I've liked what she's done so far, a lot, but she's definitely been underutilized. Maybe that'll improve?

-Credit where credit's due, the Airimirers did an off-screen resolution of the ridiculous Fake Loan plotpoint. A dumb plot was taken care of and I didn't have to watch the Airimirers do it? This show is getting me back on its side!

-As someone who's never cared that much about integration Riding into Kamen Rider, the bike duel in this one was... not that awe-inspiring? There's a late bit where Sword Form gingerly stops the Den-Otorcyle (or whatever it's called), hops it into a 90 degree turn, and then lets the Grasshopper Imagin's bike slowly bump into it. Not the most impressive bike stunts I've ever seen on these shows.

[Androzani84]

For reference, the bikes in this series follow a “first part of rider’s name followed by bird” theme naming.

And personally, I’ve never understood why someone decided to incorporate an amnesia plot regarding the Zeronos Cards, or give them a limited number of uses. Almost no logical reason occurs to me.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Some really powerful emotional storytelling here, unfortunately focused on a plot that basically never landed for me.

Oh, I get it now! I thought for a second this might be a whole new disagreement between us, but it's actually just a classic that goes all the way back to Kuuga – early Heisei shows having cryptic storytelling that I gleefully eat up while you desperately beg the series to give you something you can actually unpack. Heck, I even specifically praised these episodes for being a little vague when I rewatched them:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This arc finally reveals exactly why Zeronos using his cards is such a big deal, and as you should be expecting from Den-O at this point, it's done beautifully. One thing that's especially nice is that although Deneb hints at it in dialogue, it's not until the very end where we actually SEE firsthand what's going on, letting the viewer connect the obvious dots instead of spelling it out. The show understands that words aren't needed at that point. It lets the drama of the moment hit a lot harder, as does the fact that it comes at the end of a plot that was already perfectly building up to it.

But yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from with how this one failed to really resonate with you, even though it definitely got there for me. I told you upfront Zeronos is my favorite secondary Rider, and the tragic nature of his existence that the show is starting to dig into here is a key reason why. There's nothing more Kamen Rider to me than a suffering hero.

And like you said, the direction really works in spots, too. I was kinda trying to get at this talking about the first part, but Kaneda's style, for an episode like this, is less "boring and slow" (like the Super Hero Taisen films he's kinda infamous for these days), and more just weighty. And you know, you talk smack about the bike action here, but uh, I mean, I saw those Black Fang episodes of Blade, man. It could be a lot worse. At least Den-O went off a ramp here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And personally, I’ve never understood why someone decided to incorporate an amnesia plot regarding the Zeronos Cards, or give them a limited number of uses. Almost no logical reason occurs to me.

Logical reason as in, like, why do they function that way in-universe? Because on a thematic level, the entire show is about memory, and the cards are another angle to explore that concept from. But if you're simply confused as to the literal mechanics of that, then yeah, as demonstrated by that cell phone Climax Form is rocking, Den-O's type of storytelling isn't super concerned with that sort of detailed worldbuilding.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

For reference, the bikes in this series follow a “first part of rider’s name followed by bird” theme naming.

If you think my pride in coming up with "Den-Otorcycle" will ever let me call that bike by another name... welcome to a Kamen Rider Die Watches thread! It's great to have you join us!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And personally, I’ve never understood why someone decided to incorporate an amnesia plot regarding the Zeronos Cards, or give them a limited number of uses. Almost no logical reason occurs to me.

Yeah, it's like Fish said, the Zeronos cards are more about the slipperiness of memory, that trap of nostalgia, the weight of connection. How they work? I'm not sure there's any particular science that could be behind it that'd define it better than It Works That Way To Make Yuuto Sad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Oh, I get it now! I thought for a second this might be a whole new disagreement between us, but it's actually just a classic that goes all the way back to Kuuga – early Heisei shows having cryptic storytelling that I gleefully eat up while you desperately beg the series to give you something you can actually unpack.

I really love that you and I can both look at a fog bank, and you'll go It's So Beautiful And Atmospheric and I'll go I Can't See A Goddamn Thing. Just unironically love that. It's what art's all about, you know? Differing perspectives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

But yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from with how this one failed to really resonate with you, even though it definitely got there for me. I told you upfront Zeronos is my favorite secondary Rider, and the tragic nature of his existence that the show is starting to dig into here is a key reason why. There's nothing more Kamen Rider to me than a suffering hero.

I'm hoping my feelings toward this story'll change as it goes on (I like that you said "starting to dig into"!), because what I got so far didn't feel enough like a story about Yuuto and Airi. It felt like a Doomed Romance with a Suffering Boy and a Wounded Girl, not anything with characters who were invested in their own narrative.

(Although, my absolute favorite recurring Yuuto thing is how people keep projecting the wrong emotions onto him? The Deneb story is all about Deneb misunderstanding how much Yuuto cares about him, and this story's climax hinges on Yuuto needing to explain to Ryotaro and Deneb that saving his connection to a woman he hasn't fallen in love with yet, and now never will, isn't worth his friends dying. People keep reading deeper emotions into Yuuto because he's so closed-off, and then they read the wrong emotions into him. I love that.)

The more this story lets Yuuto and Airi, instead of Ryotaro, drive the plot, the more I'm going to be into it. I just don't feel like the show's done that yet?

[Switchblade]

Stargazing snuggle count: 6

This is probably one of the two best moments in Den-O in regards to making the Yuuto/Airi/Off-screen Yuuto thing work (the other is much, much later in the Cho Den-O films). There is a lot of great stuff with the staging and framing of Airi almost remembering Yuuto that sells the idea of this time travel romance nonsense as well as anything can. I actually got fairly invested in this story my first time through the show, but on repeat viewings it's harder not to notice how much of it is based off of telling instead of showing. We're definitely informed that Airi and Sakurai had an epic romance that consisted mostly of the same scene of them looking at the stars, but the show's set-up prevents us from seeing any of it on screen. It's like a Greek drama where all the important stuff happens off-stage and we have to hear about it secondhand.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, I like the idea that Ryutaros was so badly injured that it prevented everyone from coming together for Climax Form. Felt like a legitimate way to handicap Den-O and forcing Yuuto to burn the last card (loved his whole "Fuck it, these exist to be used" resolution, by the way). Also dig the unintentional W foreshadowing of the monster being half green and half black, separated down the middle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

If you think my pride in coming up with "Den-Otorcycle" will ever let me call that bike by another name... welcome to a Kamen Rider Die Watches thread! It's great to have you join us!

So my big question, then, is "Zerotorcycle" or "Zeronotorcycle?"

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

This is probably one of the two best moments in Den-O in regards to making the Yuuto/Airi/Off-screen Yuuto thing work (the other is much, much later in the Cho Den-O films). There is a lot of great stuff with the staging and framing of Airi almost remembering Yuuto that sells the idea of this time travel romance nonsense as well as anything can. I actually got fairly invested in this story my first time through the show, but on repeat viewings it's harder not to notice how much of it is based off of telling instead of showing. We're definitely informed that Airi and Sakurai had an epic romance that consisted mostly of the same scene of them looking at the stars, but the show's set-up prevents us from seeing any of it on screen. It's like a Greek drama where all the important stuff happens off-stage and we have to hear about it secondhand.

Yeah, I'll go to my grave thinking that this plot's biggest flaw is that the person most visibly invested in it is Ryotaro. It turns what should be a doomed Ouroboros of a romance into some weird forced-shipping thing that the show is perpetuating. No one really seems that into this, to the point that the person most active in the story, Ryotaro, is constantly trying to keep Airi from getting emotionally involved in it. That is insane! That is an insane way to tell a story!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

So my big question, then, is "Zerotorcycle" or "Zeronotorcycle?"

HorneDen-Otorcycle.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 32 - “THE LAST CARD: ZERO!”

We’ve spent the last day or so talking about the problems with the Airi/Sakurai/Yuuto plot. Things like Sakurai existing as an idea more than a character.

Well yeah, like I said before, Airi's completely unflappable. About Airi's isolation to the emotional stakes, it's something important for her to act that way. And well, for uh, all the everyone loves Airi part of the plot, this part gives the conclusion about the one that actually belongs to Airi, which is Yuuto Sakurai, and this part had him starting to make a move on her. The lack of connection is due to them being still in young age for this time. Yuuto now has to move on, but not from love, but from keeping the card by actually using it. This seems relatable for people who want to save up things for the best, like money... but for that, the Yuuto part of trying to keep is important, don't pull out the "money is only memento when kept, it's meant to be used" blindly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The themes are good. The idea of your memories only having value if they can be used to make a brighter future, that’s a strong message. Yuuto opting to give up the reason he’s fighting in order to save Den-O and Deneb, that’s an awesomely heroic move. Just, in general, it’s saying smart, insightful things about letting the past go. It’s an episode about acknowledging loss, to better open yourself up to new possibilities.

Yuuto still has jerk qualities here unlike the version in movie (who is mostly on serious side), but he's getting there by shedding it by taking part of the battle despite his limits of transformation. His development about going away from the past isn't helped by Ryotaro like the contract holder, talking about regrets of past burden part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-One of the few benefits of Less Hana seems to be More Naomi, and I do like that. (I wish it wasn’t a zero sum calculation, though!) It’s nice to see Mana-chan get to have more screen time. When I’d read that she was a part of this show after I finished Agito, I just assumed they’d give her a meaty part to play. I’ve liked what she’s done so far, a lot, but she’s definitely been underutilized. Maybe that’ll improve?

Well, her thing is to make coffees which are worse than she thinks, then watching the infighting between Taros Imagins, or playing with Ryutaros, and serving Owner. She won't be the type to likely improve situation, because she's bloodlusted by the infightings Taros Imagins, which would be likely anti-development instead, though she does act like audience's exaggerated reaction towards some that happened like being touched by touching moments, being cheerleader for actual fights, etc.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Well, her thing is to make coffees which are worse than she thinks, then watching the infighting between Taros Imagins, or playing with Ryutaros, and serving Owner. She won't be the type to likely improve situation, because she's bloodlusted by the infightings Taros Imagins, which would be likely anti-development instead, though she does act like audience's exaggerated reaction towards some that happened like being touched by touching moments, being cheerleader for actual fights, etc.

Yeah, she's got her well-documented comedic role (which I like!), but I wouldn't hate it if the show let that character grow a bit. Poppy on Ex-Aid was a light-hearted character that added a touch of the ridiculous to some heavy stories... until she became the heavy story. I wouldn't be mad if Den-O went a similar(-ish) route with Naomi.

[Sunred]

So I think it is safe to tell that other motif behind Zeronos as of this episode. Zeronos's other motif aside from Ushiwakamaru and Benkei is the Asian folklore behind the Summer Triangle made up of Altair, Vega, and Deneb, and most importantly the myth behind the Jujly 7th festival celebrated within Asia, known as Tanabata in Japan.
The story is called The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Hikoboshi and Orihime in Japan. Some details vary depending on country but the common gist of things is that Orihime was a great weaver and her father who happened to be the ruler of the galaxy found it saddening she was a workaholic. So she introduced her to Hikoboshi the cowherd and both fell in love. However, their love for each other grew so much that they started slacking off and the emperor was angered at how they changed so he banished them to the farthest depths of the galaxy from each other. Orihime was deeply saddened and her tears became the summer rainy season and feeling sorry for her he decided to let her meet Hikoboshi once every year. Altair is Hikoboshi, Vega is Orihime, and the flock of crows and magpies that bands together to form the bridge for them to meet every year is Deneb hence why Deneb Imagin is a crow motif because of this lore and the karasu tengu stuff thrown in the mix.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 33 - "TIME TROUBLER KOHANA”



There are these episodes in Kamen Rider sometimes, where it's just a pile of things happening. This is one of those. New train lines are developing, Hana's a kid, Yuuto's no longer a Kamen Rider, the world learns how majestic the music of Kamen Rider can sound when played on a piano... it's a whole bunch of things happening.

The nicest feeling for me as a viewer is when the Why of all those things locks in. Why are you telling me all this? Why now? Why this way?

How the Yuuto and Kohana plots dovetail made me pretty happy. There's a reason why you'd do them this way, even if the impetus was accidental. Yuuto's used up all of his Zeronos cards, Airi's forgotten him, special guest star Sawada who is definitely in England has forgotten him... he feels frustrated by his cosmic irrelevance. The universe exists to squander his potential, rob him of his rewards, and humiliate him. Yuuto's got people like Ryotaro who pity him, people like Deneb who care for him, but he doesn't have anyone who understands him. No one who can sympathize with what he's going through.

And then Hana shows up as a child, and we're in business.

I can't really think of a good Hana/Yuuto plot that's been done. There really wasn't any time, no pun intended. We had Yuuto's introduction, then Sieg, then all of the movie stuff, then the Climax Form stuff, and then Hana's gone. We got a little bit of Hana needing info from Yuuto in one episode, but that plot was overshadowed by Tiger costumes and monsters who were not that into Urataros. (Also, Hana didn't even learn anything too valuable from Yuuto.) There never was a solid Hana/Yuuto story, and that's a shame.

Maybe it's okay, though, because that makes this story feel refreshingly original? The episode is sort of sloppy and overstuffed (while also feeling sort of thin?), but the combo of Yuuto and Kohana is pretty goddamn great. The two of them are the most cosmically shit-upon characters in the show, so giving them both a chance to team-up and get their lives back on track (pun intended) is a pretty clever way of making lemonade out of some production lemons. I'm not missing Hana as much, because now I've got Yuuto/Kohana. It's not what I'd wished for, but it's what I can live with.




THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Did that above section feel short? Well, that's because the part that's most worth discussing occurs halfway through the episode and lasts about two minutes. Like I said, it's not a great episode for how it feels both overstuffed (Hana's change, Yuuto's epilogue, the IOTW plot, Ryotaro trying to explain to the younger/less-attentive viewers exactly what happened at the end of last episode) and also weirdly thin. The Piano Man stuff was fun to watch, but it sort of goes on a while. There's what feels like a ton of restating of premises, and teases for future stories, and very little Present Tense storytelling.

-While we can't get Zeronos in this one because his Zeronos cards are gone forever, irrevocably, no tapbacks, no continues, at least we get Deneb taking an active role in the current Imaginvestigation. Seeing him try to stealthily tail a dude in tails, or fill Yuuto's shoes in combat, it's very sweet. Any episode where Deneb attempts a catchphrase is worth watching, to me.

-Also worth watching? An episode of Den-O that includes someone who guested in one of the greatest, most ridiculous Blade stories of all-time. Piano Man is a total 180 from what's basically Takoyaki Capulet, but it's always nice to see an Inoue all-star make a return appearance.