Kabuto 03 + Den-O 09-->12
Okay, seriously, you guys. If you don't want me to ship Kaname/Zero (except that I don't necessarily mean "ship", more that I'd like something really angry and cold between them while Zero clearly actually loves Yuuki), then you need to stop doing stuff like this. Seriously. I know it's meant to entice fangirls and all, but it kind of happens a whole lot.
And now Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 03, the usual spoilers apply. Spoilers for events that happen in the late 30s, marked with bolded spoiler warnings around them. I tried to wait a little on this, I don't want to post constantly about Kabuto, but then it got kind of long and well. >__>
You know, I think it's probably pretty telling that I was trying to pimp out Kabuto the other night and said, "....you know, it's like Japan's version of Doctor Who. Cute, silly little kids' show with grown adults in rubber monster costumes! Fun, family-oriented programming! THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY. And then laugh until you cry! And then CRUSH YOUR HEART AGAIN.", turned around and told this to tammaiya, and she went OMG I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT.
.___.
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 03: The beginning of this episode has another instance of a Worm copying two people in a short time, first the police officer and then the girl in the white jacket. While it doesn't happen again much later on the series and it's obvious that they're kinda still figuring out the finer details, that's twice now, so I think--should I ever need this detail, not that I'm planning anything I mean .__.--that Worms can copy as many people as they like, but I'm going to go with Meg's idea that they can only hold the data of one given person at a time, so each copy will overwrite the previous one. It's the only thing that really makes sense to my head, otherwise, why not Mimic every Rider ever and try to gain the advantage that way?
The clothing choices are interesting for these early episodes as well--Kagami's got that haircut that falls into his eyes too much and while it does make him look a bit younger (or maybe he just is younger during the early episodes) but it doesn't look nearly as hot as the haircut from later. Tendou's also wearing a lot more layers than he does later, he's all wrapped up in that thick scarf and a t-shirt + jacket combination that really doesn't reveal that much. (Compared to usual for Tendou.)
Tendou also offers Kagami a second chance at his help, if Kagami will tell him about ZECT, ("Rejoice. I will help you as your comrade." Oh, Tendou, I love you and how you deign to bestow your own greatness on the little people.), which he actually does without being too much of a snot about it! You know. Aside from stealing Tendou's food. (And I kind of kind of hilarious that I don't think Kagami ever got Hiyori's special cooking before he had Tendou's cooking.) And he totally fought down a smirk when Hiyori says, "No good. We're out of mackerel." and Kagami shrieks in frustration. Whether because he stole Hiyori's miso away from Kagami or because he was bullying Kagami, it's hard to tell. (I lean towards the former, but it was probably for both reasons from Tendou. He's the kind of guy who multi-tasks like that. Which, you know, totally doesn't remind me of anyone or anything. .___.) Or even just because Mizushima Hiro thought the scene was funny.
The scene after that (after they just came from La Salle, even), Tendou and Kagami are walking through the destroyed Shibuya and, man, Tendou's kind of STARING at Kagami, like, really a lot. Anyway, Kagami's explaining what he's learned from ZECT and talks about how they don't know what the Worms are after why they target the people they do, just that they can mimic people perfectly. "So," Tendou says, still really laser-focused on Kagami, "right now you could be a Worm...." which you don't really think much of, but with context that's an interesting line and it takes on a new level of meaning. Especially with Kagami's, "Don't say that!" kinda intense reaction and... I could believe that Tendou was looking for a reaction out of him, testing the waters. He stares at Kagami for, like, even after Kagami's finished saying how he'll defeat all the Worm. Then looks to the side and says, "So you have a grudge against the Worm?"
The whole scene really kind of reads so much differently to me now, even if I know I'm totally over-analyzing this. And-- ....eh, crap. Okay, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for episodes into the late 30s or so. It's possible that Tendou didn't know that Hiyori was a Worm at the time, but I kind of tend to think so. He knows that his mom was four months pregnant when mimicked by a Native and Tendou's pretty good at putting two and two together. He might not have been 100% sure about it, but his surprise at her turning into a Worm seemed (to me) to be more about the moment chosen, rather than that she was one at all. It does open up an interesting can of, uh, worms, though.
Do Worms that mimic humans often go around giving birth if the woman they mimcked was pregnant? Does that baby always come out a Worm as well? I kind of assume that it does, but wasn't that Worm nest in the 20s full of eggs that would eventually hatch? Or did I just assume that that's what they were? I obviously need to rewatch those episodes, but I was left with the impression that Worms in their natural form probably reproduced through pods/eggs that way, yet if they were in human form, they probably mimicked them well enough to have human-looking babies, except still Worm.
Because, well, I don't think Worms are fully human when they mimic them. They don't smell the same, I want to say? I could swear that was brought up at some point. And the ZECT cameras can tell the difference, they show up somehow different. They just look/sound/act like the original. But they don't seem to actually be fully human down to the celluar level.
END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS
This episode is also the one where Juka asks if Tendou has found the thing he was waiting for (he says that he was waiting for something different) and she says, "Could it be... a girlfriend? :D" And, okay, I know what they're getting at, honest. But it still makes me lol that of course it's right immediately after the scene with Kagami where Tendou was paying a suspicious amount of attention to him.
Sometimes this show makes me lol a lot with their narrative choices.
This is also the episode where Kagami's expressions really start to get awesome. His "I have a headache and it's name is Tendou" expressions happen more and more often, along with the "I hate it when Tendou's right >_<" ones.
Also, it's kind of telling that Tendou really does let Kagami touch him a lot/touches Kagami a lot. When the police guard in the detention cell goes to grab Tendou's shoulder, he slides out of the way (throwing the guard into the wall with his own momentum) like it's nothing and yet there's been at least five different times in the series so far that he could have done the same thing with Kagami and. He doesn't. He's capable of it, he grabs Kagami by the collar to yank him out of the way while Kagami's holding it shut against all the other police officers, but otherwise? He kind of. Doesn't. Tendou does totally just leave Kagami on the floor with all the other cops, though. XDD But he stops to talk to him and doesn't seem entirely surprised to see Kagami running up after he lets the girl go. (Well, maybe a little at how fast Kagami got there. XD) So, who knows. And then, naturally, he sighs and says he guesses it can't be helped when Kagami takes off running and yells at him to hurry up, too. (And I so totally believe Tendou when he says its just so Juka can eat La Salle's mackerel. Really.)
The episode ends with Kagami seeing Ryou walking along again, after Tendou's speech about being the center of the world (with the dramatic setting sun in the background again!) and Kagami's resigned headache face again when Tendou says that it's more fun to think of himself that way. (And about how Tendou's just keeping him around for his own reasons/to be a source of info, which is such a load of crap, honestly.)
Up next is the plotline with Kagami Ryou and I didn't care for it much the first time around, but I think it'll take on some new meanings after having seen the whole series. Because I was a little "...hrm." over Tendou's actions the first time (not much, just a little bit) but I think this might make it make a lot more sense.
I've also watched episodes 09 --> 12 of Den-O and, man, this series is still totally lolful. It was pretty obvious that Kintaros was going to be the next Imagin added to Ryoutarou's collection because he was all yellow and there's a yellow button on the belt that's not being used. And a purple one after that.
And, wow, do the time paradoxes/screwiness totally make NO SENSE in this series and yet! I honestly don't care! Like, if this had happened in Kabuto, I'd be clawing at my head, trying to figure out a way to reconcile all the things they changed in the past (and how apparently NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT THE MONSTERS, despite that they keep kinda destroying large chunks of the city--though, I'm just chalking that up to the timeline being able to repair itself/smooth over the dent marks to some degree, but if you let an Imagin run wild, it's more than the timeline can handle) but because it's Den-O, I just sit back and lol.
Even though episode 12 kind of strained that, with Kintaros going back in time and telling Kasumi to believe in her father and then the entire timeline was changed back to before her dad made the contract with the Imagin, so none of it every happened and... yeah, stupid time paradox makes no freaking sense, but I don't care because it was a good ending anyway. The dad and his daughter--! ;__; I'm impressed with how much I really kind of wibble at the characters sometimes.
And, you know. Lol a lot. The scene in... ehhh, episode 8 or 9, I forget which. The one with the karate students Honjou and Kikuchi, with the rhino Imagin, where it transforms and Kintaros uses the Den-Liner to fly up into the air and beat on the giant monster and I was just. I sat there and went LOL SO HARD because I really, really love this show. I love that the show clearly isn't taking itself seriously, so I don't have to either, and instead it's just fun.
And I'd totally ship Honjou/Kikuchi for a quarter. .__. Seriously, guys, that was really kinda BL of you.
I'd still like to punch Airi's suitors in the face a lot, especially Oozaki. Just. Ugh. SLIMEBALL. Hana makes up for sooooo much, though, because every time she punches an Imagin in the face or beats up about four karate experts on her own, I love her even more. Ryoutarou is all right, especially as he slowly grows something of a spine, but I still really wish he'd stop whining and whimpering so much. Though, his constant bad luck does genuinely make me laugh--the series of getting hit in the head with various sports balls made me lol, even when I normally hate that sort of thing. Satou Takeru does a really good job with the character and I'll even admit that he looks kinda seriously hot as any of the -taroses. .___.
And now Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 03, the usual spoilers apply. Spoilers for events that happen in the late 30s, marked with bolded spoiler warnings around them. I tried to wait a little on this, I don't want to post constantly about Kabuto, but then it got kind of long and well. >__>
You know, I think it's probably pretty telling that I was trying to pimp out Kabuto the other night and said, "....you know, it's like Japan's version of Doctor Who. Cute, silly little kids' show with grown adults in rubber monster costumes! Fun, family-oriented programming! THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY. And then laugh until you cry! And then CRUSH YOUR HEART AGAIN.", turned around and told this to tammaiya, and she went OMG I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT.
.___.
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 03: The beginning of this episode has another instance of a Worm copying two people in a short time, first the police officer and then the girl in the white jacket. While it doesn't happen again much later on the series and it's obvious that they're kinda still figuring out the finer details, that's twice now, so I think--should I ever need this detail, not that I'm planning anything I mean .__.--that Worms can copy as many people as they like, but I'm going to go with Meg's idea that they can only hold the data of one given person at a time, so each copy will overwrite the previous one. It's the only thing that really makes sense to my head, otherwise, why not Mimic every Rider ever and try to gain the advantage that way?
The clothing choices are interesting for these early episodes as well--Kagami's got that haircut that falls into his eyes too much and while it does make him look a bit younger (or maybe he just is younger during the early episodes) but it doesn't look nearly as hot as the haircut from later. Tendou's also wearing a lot more layers than he does later, he's all wrapped up in that thick scarf and a t-shirt + jacket combination that really doesn't reveal that much. (Compared to usual for Tendou.)
Tendou also offers Kagami a second chance at his help, if Kagami will tell him about ZECT, ("Rejoice. I will help you as your comrade." Oh, Tendou, I love you and how you deign to bestow your own greatness on the little people.), which he actually does without being too much of a snot about it! You know. Aside from stealing Tendou's food. (And I kind of kind of hilarious that I don't think Kagami ever got Hiyori's special cooking before he had Tendou's cooking.) And he totally fought down a smirk when Hiyori says, "No good. We're out of mackerel." and Kagami shrieks in frustration. Whether because he stole Hiyori's miso away from Kagami or because he was bullying Kagami, it's hard to tell. (I lean towards the former, but it was probably for both reasons from Tendou. He's the kind of guy who multi-tasks like that. Which, you know, totally doesn't remind me of anyone or anything. .___.) Or even just because Mizushima Hiro thought the scene was funny.
The scene after that (after they just came from La Salle, even), Tendou and Kagami are walking through the destroyed Shibuya and, man, Tendou's kind of STARING at Kagami, like, really a lot. Anyway, Kagami's explaining what he's learned from ZECT and talks about how they don't know what the Worms are after why they target the people they do, just that they can mimic people perfectly. "So," Tendou says, still really laser-focused on Kagami, "right now you could be a Worm...." which you don't really think much of, but with context that's an interesting line and it takes on a new level of meaning. Especially with Kagami's, "Don't say that!" kinda intense reaction and... I could believe that Tendou was looking for a reaction out of him, testing the waters. He stares at Kagami for, like, even after Kagami's finished saying how he'll defeat all the Worm. Then looks to the side and says, "So you have a grudge against the Worm?"
The whole scene really kind of reads so much differently to me now, even if I know I'm totally over-analyzing this. And-- ....eh, crap. Okay, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for episodes into the late 30s or so. It's possible that Tendou didn't know that Hiyori was a Worm at the time, but I kind of tend to think so. He knows that his mom was four months pregnant when mimicked by a Native and Tendou's pretty good at putting two and two together. He might not have been 100% sure about it, but his surprise at her turning into a Worm seemed (to me) to be more about the moment chosen, rather than that she was one at all. It does open up an interesting can of, uh, worms, though.
Do Worms that mimic humans often go around giving birth if the woman they mimcked was pregnant? Does that baby always come out a Worm as well? I kind of assume that it does, but wasn't that Worm nest in the 20s full of eggs that would eventually hatch? Or did I just assume that that's what they were? I obviously need to rewatch those episodes, but I was left with the impression that Worms in their natural form probably reproduced through pods/eggs that way, yet if they were in human form, they probably mimicked them well enough to have human-looking babies, except still Worm.
Because, well, I don't think Worms are fully human when they mimic them. They don't smell the same, I want to say? I could swear that was brought up at some point. And the ZECT cameras can tell the difference, they show up somehow different. They just look/sound/act like the original. But they don't seem to actually be fully human down to the celluar level.
END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS
This episode is also the one where Juka asks if Tendou has found the thing he was waiting for (he says that he was waiting for something different) and she says, "Could it be... a girlfriend? :D" And, okay, I know what they're getting at, honest. But it still makes me lol that of course it's right immediately after the scene with Kagami where Tendou was paying a suspicious amount of attention to him.
Sometimes this show makes me lol a lot with their narrative choices.
This is also the episode where Kagami's expressions really start to get awesome. His "I have a headache and it's name is Tendou" expressions happen more and more often, along with the "I hate it when Tendou's right >_<" ones.
Also, it's kind of telling that Tendou really does let Kagami touch him a lot/touches Kagami a lot. When the police guard in the detention cell goes to grab Tendou's shoulder, he slides out of the way (throwing the guard into the wall with his own momentum) like it's nothing and yet there's been at least five different times in the series so far that he could have done the same thing with Kagami and. He doesn't. He's capable of it, he grabs Kagami by the collar to yank him out of the way while Kagami's holding it shut against all the other police officers, but otherwise? He kind of. Doesn't. Tendou does totally just leave Kagami on the floor with all the other cops, though. XDD But he stops to talk to him and doesn't seem entirely surprised to see Kagami running up after he lets the girl go. (Well, maybe a little at how fast Kagami got there. XD) So, who knows. And then, naturally, he sighs and says he guesses it can't be helped when Kagami takes off running and yells at him to hurry up, too. (And I so totally believe Tendou when he says its just so Juka can eat La Salle's mackerel. Really.)
The episode ends with Kagami seeing Ryou walking along again, after Tendou's speech about being the center of the world (with the dramatic setting sun in the background again!) and Kagami's resigned headache face again when Tendou says that it's more fun to think of himself that way. (And about how Tendou's just keeping him around for his own reasons/to be a source of info, which is such a load of crap, honestly.)
Up next is the plotline with Kagami Ryou and I didn't care for it much the first time around, but I think it'll take on some new meanings after having seen the whole series. Because I was a little "...hrm." over Tendou's actions the first time (not much, just a little bit) but I think this might make it make a lot more sense.
I've also watched episodes 09 --> 12 of Den-O and, man, this series is still totally lolful. It was pretty obvious that Kintaros was going to be the next Imagin added to Ryoutarou's collection because he was all yellow and there's a yellow button on the belt that's not being used. And a purple one after that.
And, wow, do the time paradoxes/screwiness totally make NO SENSE in this series and yet! I honestly don't care! Like, if this had happened in Kabuto, I'd be clawing at my head, trying to figure out a way to reconcile all the things they changed in the past (and how apparently NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT THE MONSTERS, despite that they keep kinda destroying large chunks of the city--though, I'm just chalking that up to the timeline being able to repair itself/smooth over the dent marks to some degree, but if you let an Imagin run wild, it's more than the timeline can handle) but because it's Den-O, I just sit back and lol.
Even though episode 12 kind of strained that, with Kintaros going back in time and telling Kasumi to believe in her father and then the entire timeline was changed back to before her dad made the contract with the Imagin, so none of it every happened and... yeah, stupid time paradox makes no freaking sense, but I don't care because it was a good ending anyway. The dad and his daughter--! ;__; I'm impressed with how much I really kind of wibble at the characters sometimes.
And, you know. Lol a lot. The scene in... ehhh, episode 8 or 9, I forget which. The one with the karate students Honjou and Kikuchi, with the rhino Imagin, where it transforms and Kintaros uses the Den-Liner to fly up into the air and beat on the giant monster and I was just. I sat there and went LOL SO HARD because I really, really love this show. I love that the show clearly isn't taking itself seriously, so I don't have to either, and instead it's just fun.
And I'd totally ship Honjou/Kikuchi for a quarter. .__. Seriously, guys, that was really kinda BL of you.
I'd still like to punch Airi's suitors in the face a lot, especially Oozaki. Just. Ugh. SLIMEBALL. Hana makes up for sooooo much, though, because every time she punches an Imagin in the face or beats up about four karate experts on her own, I love her even more. Ryoutarou is all right, especially as he slowly grows something of a spine, but I still really wish he'd stop whining and whimpering so much. Though, his constant bad luck does genuinely make me laugh--the series of getting hit in the head with various sports balls made me lol, even when I normally hate that sort of thing. Satou Takeru does a really good job with the character and I'll even admit that he looks kinda seriously hot as any of the -taroses. .___.