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01-26-2021, 12:59 PM | #801 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Tsurugi didn't deserve to die when he was killed by a Worm. But as a Worm, Tsurugi still lived and died honorably, as himself. It's tragic but I think Tsurugi found what he was looking for at the end. But I can see that you really didn't like this episode so, to each their own, I guess.
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01-26-2021, 01:14 PM | #802 |
I have a problematic type
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I'm ambivalent about this episode. There are aspects of it that I think worked: Tsurugi deciding to commit suicide by Kamen Rider, him finding a way to lure many (all?) the Worms to their death as part of his own, that beautiful final scene with Jiiya. There are also things that don't: every single scrap of over-the-top pathos with Misaki, with the possible exception of the bracelet bits.
I don't know if there was ever a version of the show where Tsurugi made it out alive. Hatred of the Worms was such a core to his early characterization that I can't see him accepting his true nature to any extent. At the same time, it's a real hard swerve to take the show's biggest goofball comic relief character and turn him into a death seeking idealist in his final episode. The fact that it even kinda works is really impressive. At the same time, I really do hate that we're going to go through the rest of the series without Tsurugi. It's only three episodes, sure, but his presence almost always elevated the story and I am going to miss him a lot. |
01-26-2021, 04:00 PM | #803 |
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I agree that Yaguruma trying to look cool in front of his underlings isn't heroic. I don't think it's intended to be, and I don't think I ever said it was? It's selfish and petty, but, like, so is Yaguruma. I'd disagree that him entering the fight is due to some higher morality, though. His beef was more of a payback thing?
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So much of the second half of this episode, it’s like the fan-service version of heroism. It feels like there’s no way there could be five more episodes, because everyone in this one is at Maximum Rider Power. Tendou is giving speeches to Hiyori to welcome her home. Kagami is holding off an entire army by withstanding non-stop attacks. Tsurugi is seeing Misaki as a person, not just as an ideal. Kageyama becomes TheWorst again, just long enough to embarrass himself. And Yaguruma remembers that Looking Cool In Front Of His Underlings is his main motivation for doing literally anything ever.
Yeah, but I'm making sure that you know. I won't bring up about this if it's something that you already know and acknowledged, and you intend to make joke of it, like Kageyama as TheWorst for his behaviors, or something new here that I find smart and hilarious while also already knowing Kageyama's whole identity the whole time; Kageyessir. Still though, Souji Kusakabe as a name is probably more meaningful than what people here think, and I want to convey that (roots from what you review about him in ep. 43 though): Quote:
I forgot to address this, but you said before that Souji Kusakabe had childlike innocence right? I think that's done on purpose, Souji Kusakabe name is meaningful to him here, he represents the child version of Tendou but put in an adult Tendou's body, and teen/adult Souji is only Souji Tendou, as he's already adopted by Tendou family, but Souji was originally Souji Kusakabe as a child before he lost his family and is adopted by the Tendous, which means he's dubbed as Souji Kusakabe as he's literal separate child version of Souji Tendou, but taken to the path of villainy, due to his nature which is a spoiler. But being figuratively present-child Tendou, of course he would deeply care and be protective towards Hiyori too (with you saying he's suddenly devoted to Hiyori, which Tendou also kinda like that when they met?), and it's shown like Hiyori's flashback where child Souji cries out for Hiyori, Souji Kusakabe would express his devotion to Hiyori more openly just like child Tendou in that flashback.
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And Dark Kabuto, shows the consequence of love in the worst way of him actually putting what Tendou threatened Kagami for before to actual work (destroy all living beings for Hiyori), which is why I judge character's morality more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them like strangers or civilians, I think caring about friends and/or family (the latter for Souji Kusakabe) won't necessarily cut it (if they would care, apathetic, or cruel to others; overall). Quote:
The Worms are every-goddamn-where in this episode, so it’s no surprise that Tendou is trying to corral every active Rider to assist him. We even get to see a troublingly mute Drake amongst the all-hands-on-deck Rider vs Worm combat, and I knew the second we saw that suit that we would 1000% not be seeing Daisuke in this episode. Knew it in my bones. The plot behind these attacks is somewhat typical Inoue, i.e. he doesn’t really care about it. The Worms are just everywhere, and there isn’t really a strategy to be found between them or ZECT. Tendou’s desire to bolster ZECT’s ranks is literally the only thing in this episode where someone is trying to solve this problem, and it makes me wonder what the shit the rest of ZECT is even for.
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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. It is, possibly, the final punctuation on how this show is committed to the Hoppers as comedy relief. I barely even understand what Yaguruma’s going for, other than Attention, but knowing him, I think I just answered my own question. It’s such a dumb plot, and it definitely is not interested in making these two look cool, but I loved it.
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A QUESTION
Although, honestly, felt like Tsurugi and Renge were going to end up together! Great chemistry, those two. Anyway, it’s a Christmas episode for the ol’ Kamen Riders, and back on Christmas (in 2020) I asked what gift you’d give a Rider, and why. Let me switch it around this time. Which Rider do you think would give the best Christmas present, and why? Quote:
It's something Inoue tries and fails to bring up in this episode, where Misaki wonders what the difference even is between Worms and humanity. Tadokoro basically says he doesn't know, and that grey area is where Inoue usually operates with his sympathetic monsters. I'm not sure I'm onboard with a read where Tsurugi deserved to die? He was capable of heroism, of sacrifice, of humor, of grace, of friendship, of love. He wasn't some irredeemable monster who was only a shadow of memory. He didn't deserve to die.
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This is in no way Inoue's best work but I'm kind of surprised that your least favorite episode of Kabuto and maybe KR in general was written by Inoue and not Yonemura, who wrote your least favorite arc of Hibiki. Maybe you should change your catchphrase to "Inoue Most Of The Time".
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For sure, it's totally possible to acknowledge someone as a villain, but also a person who has been turned in to villain through tragic backstory. I won't defend Kusakabe's actions towards Hiyori but I can understand why he feels so betrayed and resentful of the world he couldn't control. He's a foil to Tendo in that way, by being someone who is affected by the world while Tendo is someone who affects the world. It's all about control and freedom, which is something that Kusakabe doesn't have and that makes him feel similar to how Hiyori was feeling when Tendo was trying to force on her a life that wasn't whole. Befitting his aesthetic as a Dark Rider, Kusakabe is like a shadow of Tendo's past but he's stuck there and can't escape or move on.
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01-26-2021, 09:16 PM | #804 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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This paragraph talks about how this is a list of fan-service version of heroism, and you lumped Yaguruma here, with you saying he remembers that looking cool in front of his underlings as motivation, which makes me think you think making yourself look cool is heroic act...
But, yeah, could've expressed those thoughts better. Sorry for the confusion!
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01-26-2021, 10:04 PM | #805 |
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I have concluded that my brain blocked off the second half of this story in self-defense because it made me sad, which is all I really want to say about it. I will also miss Tsurugi in the last 3 episodes.
This made me laugh out loud, though, because it is 100% accurate and I really do not think either Kagami or Tendo would disagree if someone said it to their faces. Kagami might protest for like, half a second but Tendo would just Look at him, end of protest. |
01-26-2021, 10:50 PM | #806 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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01-26-2021, 10:52 PM | #807 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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I think Misaki's constant frustration with the plot happening is critical to why I feel the episode works overall. It's pretty clear to me she's meant to be the audience surrogate, essentially giving a voice to all those aforementioned kids who were big Sasword fans (and all his other fans too) by asking all the questions they naturally would, such as "Wait what are you doing Tendou?", and "TENDOU SERIOUSLY WHAT THE F*** MAN". She's not exactly feeling great by the end, even after getting an explanation, and I think that's the viewer's cue that you aren't necessarily meant to be looking at this like it all worked out for the best, or even that Tendou made the only possible "right" choice. I feel like the episode is deliberately shooting for a certain degree of ambiguity, which is one of the things I like about it. Just my perspective, of course! (I will say, though, thinking about it, it's kind of transparent how Kagami, established audience surrogate AND best friend to Tsurugi, needs to be kept at arm's length from the plot the way he is, as though Inoue stopped long enough to realize Gatack's presence would utterly break the climax, but not long enough to realize what that says about the admittedly somewhat forced and/or rushed nature of how the episode gets the narrative where it wants it.)
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01-26-2021, 11:07 PM | #808 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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I think Misaki's constant frustration with the plot happening is critical to why I feel the episode works overall. It's pretty clear to me she's meant to be the audience surrogate, essentially giving a voice to all those aforementioned kids who were big Sasword fans (and all his other fans too) by asking all the questions they naturally would, such as "Wait what are you doing Tendou?", and "TENDOU SERIOUSLY WHAT THE F*** MAN". She's not exactly feeling great by the end, even after getting an explanation, and I think that's the viewer's cue that you aren't necessarily meant to be looking at this like it all worked out for the best, or even that Tendou made the only possible "right" choice. I feel like the episode is deliberately shooting for a certain degree of ambiguity, which is one of the things I like about it. Just my perspective, of course!
There's just not nearly enough thought or relatable emotion put into Tendou's actions to make me think he's got anything resembling a compelling argument in this one, and them potentially hanging a lantern on it by Misaki being apoplectic doesn't excuse some incredibly disappointing story choices. ...is what I would say if the entire middle section of this episode actually happened, instead of being a nightmare Tsurugi had after he ate too much takoyaki during his date with Misaki. It's weird that no one seems to have picked up on how none of the Tsurugi Wants To Die stuff actually happened, considering the episode ends with Tsurugi falling back asleep. It's too bad he needed to go back to France to reestablish his family's dynasty, but I'm sure we'll see more of his romance with Misaki down the line in a V-Cinema or something. Quote:
(I will say, though, thinking about it, it's kind of transparent how Kagami, established audience surrogate AND best friend to Tsurugi, needs to be kept at arm's length from the plot the way he is, as though Inoue stopped long enough to realize Gatack's presence would utterly break the climax, but not long enough to realize what that says about the admittedly somewhat forced and/or rushed nature of how the episode gets the narrative where it wants it.)
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01-27-2021, 01:36 AM | #809 |
I have a problematic type
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I'm not sure if you mean scenes with Misaki herself, or the couple bits that really hammer in Tsurugi's feelings for Misaki, like the imaginary date (which at least made for a great misleading episode preview!), but either way, this reminds of one more thought I wanted to get out there about this one.
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01-27-2021, 06:31 AM | #810 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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Which is entirely fair! I can agree that this is an episode that's wading rather clumsily into territory it probably shouldn't be in the first place. Disgust is a perfectly normal response!
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