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01-25-2021, 01:25 PM | #771 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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It's something that shades most of the episode for me. Tsurugi is back to being a full-on goof for Misaki and she's finally coming around on him, but there's this massive dark cloud hanging over everything that adds a lot of poignancy to the normal Tsurugi shenanigans.
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Not really a comment on the episode, but I’ve just realised that both of Toei’s shows for that year had the last two parter of the year focus on a character introduced in the 17th episode of the series. I won’t tell you how Boukenger’s two-parter ended (not that you’d care), but I will say it doesn’t bode well for Tsurugi.
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And, honestly, I don't know how much I'm supposed to read Another Tendou as her brother? It's weird! He is very suddenly devoted to this girl he literally just met! They don't have a shared history, and they don't technically have any genetic link, what with them being copies of copies or whatever. It is confusing! I don't feel like this is just me being dense!
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01-25-2021, 02:48 PM | #772 |
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Oh, and there’s also a plot where Yaguruma is so mad at himself for helping out last episode that he chains himself up, leading Kageyessir to do the exact same stupid thing. It leads to, bar none, my favorite moment in the entire series, which is Tendou taking one look at their chained-up torsos and Noping right the hell out of recruiting them.
I also love the Tsurugi/Misaki bit, so much, because they are at this point adorable. It doesn't fall into the Persistent Nice Guy trap because there was a very clear point made of Tsurugi looking at how he was interacting with Misaki and starting to treat her with respect. Though her utter lack pf patience here as he completely ignores what she keeps telling him to do should negate that but it's hilarious and cute, why, lol The entire episode is, yes, tonally so dissonant but it's just so much fun overall. |
01-25-2021, 05:06 PM | #773 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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I also love the Tsurugi/Misaki bit, so much, because they are at this point adorable. It doesn't fall into the Persistent Nice Guy trap because there was a very clear point made of Tsurugi looking at how he was interacting with Misaki and starting to treat her with respect. Though her utter lack pf patience here as he completely ignores what she keeps telling him to do should negate that but it's hilarious and cute, why, lol
One of my favorite touches in the story is when Kagami's like Why Are You Going On A Date At The End Of The World, and Misaki just sort of shrugs. It's a good answer! It's like, world ain't over yet! Why not go on a date with someone cute? It's a refusal to treat this apocalyptic story as anything other than a bump in a very long road, and I sort of love that. Misaki deserves whatever bit of happiness she can grab.
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01-25-2021, 08:57 PM | #774 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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Despite being given that setup by Die, I don't begrudge the show for its current disinterest in Hiyori. Not that Die doesn't *totally* have my number there, but I mean, I kind of saw this coming. Besides, Inoue wrote that bit with her buying an orange back in 16, which might be my favorite moment in the series, so he's off the hook. Much like Tendou, I have to accept that not everything can be all about Hiyori all the time, so I guess I'll just have to talk about the world she lives in for a bit, yeah? First off, I think it's worth noting that, while plenty of people have gotten to do many great things with Tsurugi, the first and final major spotlight two-parters for Sasword are both written by Inoue and directed by Nagaishi. It's not the borderline co-ownership of Drake that Inoue and Tasaki had, since Tsurugi has been such a major part of the series, but still, I find the symmetry satisfying. Now of course, despite that, Nagaishi isn't a director I can easily launch into a ramble about (though this one does involve a ton of different locations...), and, as I pointed out back in his very first episode for the series, anything interesting I could say about an Inoue script is something Die can and will have said better already, so it's a tiny bit of a struggle to know what I want to write about here. Apologies in advance if this is another unfocused one. Broadly speaking, I remember this two-parter easily being the highlight of the back half or so of Kabuto for me. Naturally, I also don't remember too much about it beyond the broad strokes. Namely, that it's about Tsurugi, who I've established is one of my favorite characters in the show, and definitely my favorite in this episode, when Hiyori is barely around, and Drake has seemingly been pulled straight out of the crossover movie dimension for his little cameo, being nothing more than a suit and some grunts. (Although admittedly, I thought that was a cute, simple way to add to the scale of the episode's Worm plot.) Tsurugi is just too adorable – he really is. It's not going to take much effort at this point for the show to sell me on a plot all about him inexplicably managing to win Misaki over contrasted against the mounting tension of his true nature as a Worm coming to the forefront. Both of those things could be interesting plots on their own, so throw them together and it's like twice as good. Despite the apparent tonal problems Die mentioned, I think this is pretty much a perfect place to bring Tsurugi's subplot to a head, actually. It's climactic in its own way, letting him have what is essentially the absolute last chance to bring a resolution to his story that won't involve it getting buried in all the other climactic plot threads that are going to be happening soon. I am more than okay with the show taking the time out to do this as its own thing! Even the wacky comedy style of how a lot of this one plays out feels natural enough for the story being told, and I have to agree with Die and (assumedly) Inoue that this is just a way more interesting thread to follow than the Worm stuff? Like, I seriously keep forgetting that Tendou is technically in ZECT now, because the way they're run, it seems like joining the organization doesn't involve any real commitment whatsoever. He's only occasionally working directly with them, and, as proven by the Hyper Zecter's introduction, he can even attempt to steal company property and get let off with less than a slap on the wrist. ZECT used to be so serious about hunting down this radical unknown element, but now Kabuto is such pals with the boss, he lets him sit in his chair during important meetings. Perks of being best friends with his son, I suppose. I mean, I say all this as though ZECT is crazy for switching up their previous staunchly anti-Kabuto rhetoric, but while the whole point I'm trying to make here is that it's far too late for the series to start pretending we should take this organization and its doings seriously, I do have to give them credit for realizing that Tendou has been one of the least problematic Riders to work for them, despite a plot to destroy ZECT from within being his entire motive for signing up. It sounds bad, but then you take a look at their previous two golden boys, now chaining themselves up in the woods, broken shells of men in desperate need of professional help, and it's hard to argue they haven't made a smart decision. Besides, Tendou having a membership card for their weird club was all ZECT ever wanted in the first place. Who knows, maybe if he had been this cooperative back when TheBee first showed up to recruit him, Yaguruma and Kageyama would be doing way better right now! Either way, it's obviously worth mentioning that Gatack is the true underappreciated workhorse of ZECT's Riders, which is a smooth enough segue to mention how much I love Kagami's scenes in this one. He's not a huge part of it, but I really want to make sure I mention how much appreciation I've gained for Yuuki Satou's performance during this rewatch. This is a show that's absolutely filled to the brim with these wild, heightened characters, and I could say this about so many of the actors portraying them, but something about Satou's brief fits in this episode when he's getting worried about Tsurugi's secret coming out seriously impressed me with the utter conviction he gives to Kagami's trademark Very Big Feelings. It's a role that actively requires the willingness to be as uncool as possible very frequently, and he never shies away from that, which makes his more subdued moments and genuine heroic feats work all the better when they happen. Anyway, very fun episode – looking forward to seeing how well the conclusion holds up!
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01-25-2021, 09:18 PM | #775 |
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 46
Uh, no. No to this entire episode. No to a story that ends with Tendou honoring someone's request for suicide because they were too disgusted to live with themselves, with the complex truth of their existence. No to a story where Tsurugi wallows in self-pity and self-loathing, where the arc of it is He Hates Himself And Wants To Die And Then He Dies. No to a story that lets Tendou execute someone in front of a grieving friend, and playing it as some noble act, his unshakeable character and deep kindness. No to a story from the creator of Faiz, a show about self-acceptance, that is all about how sometimes who you are inside is terrible and needs to be destroyed. No to a story where Tsurugi wanders into this ocean, longing for death, as the tackiest images of Misaki smiling are layered over, making me laugh at Tsurugi's initial suicide attempt. No to a story where Kagami's explanation for why he never told anyone why Tsurugi was a Worm was that he hadn't gotten around to it yet, not that he felt something for a friend, or that he was afraid of what would happen to Tsurugi, or literally anything that spoke to their bond. No to a story that assumes that Tsurugi could be a sociopathically capable supervillain at the drop of a hat, despite dozens of episodes as evidence to the contrary. No to a story that thinks you can make Tsurugi a cold-blooded killer after spending a season making him the sweetest puppy of a Rider. No to a story that only acknowledges the depression of Hiyori through Tendou's internal monologue, because Hiyori never once appears in this episode. No to a story where Tsurugi's dastardly plan was to crush all of the Zecters in an industrial press, something that not only doesn't work, but obviously was never ever going to work because these things are from space. No to all of it, to every scene, to every line of dialogue, to every maudlin staging, to every reasonable Misaki reaction that is obliterated in the face of manly suffering and laughable motivations. No to this episode, forever. A QUESTION Obviously, this whole episode was a nightmare that Tsurugi was having after finding out he was a Worm, which is why it makes absolutely no sense, has an insulting theme, and is zero fun to experience. The real story is that he goes on that date with Misaki because he doesn't die. What other stories in Kamen Rider has your headcanon saved from heartbreaking awfulness? (Please don't post any answers from Den-O through Decade or Zi-O up!)
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01-25-2021, 09:33 PM | #776 |
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Oh... I was not expecting this episode to go this way. One of my earliest Kamen Rider memories is seeing the end of this episode as a youtube clip, and just feeling feels for it. Little did I know the surrounding episode was actually really bad and like not at all handled well. So I guess in the episode my mind constructed around it Tendou was fighting Tsuragi because the worm subsumed his personality, and like the group had tried to save him but couldn't, or something I don't know.
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01-25-2021, 09:46 PM | #777 |
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Oh... I was not expecting this episode to go this way. One of my earliest Kamen Rider memories is seeing the end of this episode as a youtube clip, and just feeling feels for it. Little did I know the surrounding episode was actually really bad and like not at all handled well. So I guess in the episode my mind constructed around it Tendou was fighting Tsuragi because the worm subsumed his personality, and like the group had tried to save him but couldn't, or something I don't know.
Yeah, no one really makes a case to redeem/rescue Tsurugi. Tendou dismisses it out of hand, and then decides (with some help from Jiiya) that getting detonated due to depression is actually a totally noble thing that he should give Tsurugi as the worst Christmas present of all time. Misaki has her doubts, and then Tendou heroically ignores them and kills Tsurugi right in front of her. I definitely love remembering parts of this episode!
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01-25-2021, 10:16 PM | #778 |
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Has-- has this actually dethroned God Speed Love for you??
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01-25-2021, 10:22 PM | #779 |
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Easily. That had a story that I felt wasn't Kabuto. This has a story that wasn't Inoue, and that's so much worse.
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01-25-2021, 10:28 PM | #780 |
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This episode aired on Christmas Eve. I also like this episode specifically because I don't really disagree with Die's assessment of it. It's a script that feels almost like a practical joke on any kid who asked Santa for a DX Sasword Zecter, you know? It's downright cruel, and I don't particularly feel like sticking up for the secret meaning and depth of what is, exactly as Die said, a story that "rewards" a beloved supporting character in the end by having the star of the show assist in his suicide. It's so tacky I won't ever forget it though. I've constantly mentioned how little I remember from this stretch of the series, but everything about this one has never left my brain and never will. That industrial setting where Kabuto and Sasword fight, the twist of Tsurugi's true plan, Tendou's merciless "mercy", that chair at the end – that stuff will stick with you for life! I can't say that's some great thing, but I must admit I respect the show for taking such an unexpected turn? Like, I'm sorry to say it, but I fell for this one hook, line, and sinker when I first watched it. It was a pretty emotional experience as a huge Sasword fan, and it left me with a lot to think about. Kabuto's final decision, especially, I mean, the way Takaiwa can just stand utterly motionless in that suit for a few moments of hesitation, it hits hard. I don't know if I think this episode is good or bad anymore. I've definitely seen plenty of other episodes of Kabuto that were great by now. Maybe someone else can give a better redemptive reading. But I do like this episode, that aired on Christmas Eve, that definitely left children in tears, and probably me too. It's a story I've never really seen Rider do outside of this, and even if there's a good reason for that, I find myself glad they took the risk doing it at least once. What's far more heartbreaking is seeing it go over so poorly with Die, though.
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