Kamen Rider Kabuto 04+05 and Den-O and Himitsu no Arashi-chan
Okay, I promised myself I would rewatch at least one episode a day and you would think that that wouldn't be that difficult, right? 23 minutes, I can totally do that!
Well, it's much harder if you're a really big nerd and keep pausing the episode to scribble down retarded notes about the show. Feh. At least I'm combining two episodes this time. (And also I had a crappy weekend, so I lost a lot of time, but, eh, screw crappy weekends! I will not let them beat me!)
SPOILERS for the usual (and up into the mid-30s at least! ...oh, hell, probably the whole series, honestly), I suspect I'm giving up on these not being spoilery as hell because that's the fun part of the rewatch, knowing more about what's going through Tendou's very, uh, Special head. And giving way too much thought to the plotline with the Worm and all. oh god i'm such a nerd
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 04: So, last episode left off with Kagami chasing after Ryou and Tendou being attacked by another Worm, who seems to be able to almost sense that he's Kabuto? idk. I think about things too much. Anyway, the next scene has Kagami in La Salle and apparently someone ordered a boatload of mackerel and the manager is really Not Pleased about this and then Juka comes in and gives Kagami the biggest headache ever because, GOD, THAT TENDOU. NOT EVEN HERE AND HE'S STILL GIVING KAGAMI HEADACHES. >_<
Naturally, Juka makes Kagami carry all the mackerel to the Tendou household and then sits him down for tea while Tendou cooks and this is something I pinged on the first time I watched, but it's even more hilarious during the rewatch: I find it amusing that the first three episodes make this kinda big deal about Hiyori's cooking and how Kagami wants to try it and how circumstances (read: Tendou) keep him from it. And then they have Kagami eating Tendou's cooking first and go OMG SO GOOOOOOOOD. ....yeah, having trouble taking your potential het seriously when you build up a context for it and then hand it over to Kagami/Tendou, you guys. Especially when Kagami has forgotten ALL ABOUT WORK (leaving Hiyori there alone) while at Tendou's house.
Though, seriously, it's a good thing Tendou's a good cook or else Kagami would probably snap and strangle him someday. :<
Also, Juka talking to Kagami in such a way that's practically out of a shoujo manga about the younger sister sidling up to the love interest/potential boyfriend, is never, ever not SUPER HILARIOUS. Right down to the pinky swear promise she makes for him to be Onii-chan's friend. Totally shoujo manga, I swear.
Kagami opens up about his little brother a little bit and Tendou's expression as he suddenly looks even more interesting (in a Tendou sort of way) also still gets to me, because you kind of catch that Tendou's a dork for his little sister, but. Same for how Tendou actually goes and asks Hiyori about Kagami's little brother--I get why he's doing it, he's got his own thing about younger siblings, but it's interesting that he picks up so strongly on Kagami's issue with Ryou and actually goes and asks around. ....which is the start of how Tendou acts around Kagami. He's kind of hyper interested (interesting to put the reaction to Kagami's little brother after all the staring he's been doing with Kagami in the first three episodes) but forget actually going to talk to Kagami about it. I swear that's how Tendou acts when he cares about someone--you have to push and push and push the circumstances to actually get him to do anything directly with the person he cares about.
Like, he'll give Kagami this really meaningful look as Kagami celebrates that his little brother is back (and when Kagami grabs Hiyori by the shoulders to ask her to make the mackerel miso, the sharp looks from Tendou are surprisingly absent, which makes me wonder if he sense that Kagami/Hiyori just isn't really going to happen or if he's more okay with the idea or what) and he'll go talk to Misaki to tell her to investigate Kagami's little brother, but he won't actually say anything directly to Kagami. Even if it means that Kagami will misinterpret his reasons a little. Sure, I wonder if a lot of that is his own issues with younger siblings, but. In the context of their relationship up to this point, it's kind of interesting.
Tendou obviously does want to kill the Worm imitating Ryou because it's not actually Ryou, but he's also willing to step back and let Kagami handle it, despite that he thinks Kagami isn't really that capable right now. (I don't think he really expected Kagami to understand his motivations, it kind of read like Tendou was deliberately smacking him--in Tendou's own roundabout way--to see the truth of the situation and to get Kagami all fired up for when he faces this.) It also amuses me how much Kagami's punch apparently really did hurt. And even if Kagami tripped from Tendou's punch, he didn't whine or cry about it. *LOVES KAGAMI, LIKE, A LOT*
Also, I did wonder (a little bit) why it was necessary to kill Ryou, it's not like he was running around attacking people? He only changed back/attacked when ZECT was about to fire on him. If it's one of those plot holes that Kabuto has a lot of, but is kind of easy to fill in if you want to fanwank it away as KagamiSr realizing, well, a Worm impersonating his son? Getting close to Kagami and potentially getting close to KagamiSr eventually as well? A Worm getting close to Gatack and the head of ZECT? Well, what could go wrong with that? Even if he was just a Worm that was willing to co-exist with the rest of humanity, I can believe that KagamiSr. wouldn't want to take that chance.
Anyway, Tendou makes his dramatic entrance, staring at Kagami some more, as he says, "Obaa-chan said this: When people love others, they become weaker... But... it is nothing to be ashamed of. Because that is not true weakness. Right? Only those who know weakness... ...will become truly stronger."
Which a) is interesting because both of them do grow stronger through the "weakness" of caring others (not that that's not every Japanese series just about ever, mind) and b) because Tendou really makes a point of saying that to Kagami, almost comforting in a Tendou sort of way. Even if this Worm isn't really the Ryou he knew and has to be fought against, it's not bad that Kagami still continues to let it get to him, continues to care. Same for the way he doesn't fight back against the Worm that mimicked Ryou until Kagami snaps out of his daze, putting himself in potential harm's way to wake Kagami up. Which, you know, I can't recall him doing for a lot of people.
(And, again. Totally how Tendou does things when it comes to Kagami. Brings about a situation, pushes things around, until Kagami is the one to act/break the tension. It's not until Kagami says, "Kabuto! Please!" that Tendou stands up and fights back.)
I also love that OF COURSE it starts to rain dramatically as Tendou changes into Kabuto and starts the fight. Of course. XDDD
Anyway, the episode wraps up with Kagami screaming that he'll surpass Tendou someday, who stops walking and has this unreadable look on his face, then he throws Ryou's baseball to Kagami with this really intense look on his face and I... I kind of start to wonder again just how much Tendou knows. Does he know about Gatack? Is he helping that along? Or is this just because he's extremely reactive to Kagami? Obviously there's something there (however you want to interpret it) that's not just about the fight against the Worm, but... well, sometimes I wonder.
I mean, when your options are:
1) a fanwanked theory that Tendou knows about Gatack and is helping Kagami along or
2) Tendou is just IMMEDIATELY reactive to Kagami and kind of stares at him a lot and is really kind of touchy-feely with him...
you kind of start to think maybe you're not just being a yaoi fangirl with the two of them. XD
This is also the episode where Kagami starts to look really pretty. I mean, I think Satou Yuuki is adorable and really kind of hot (especially in those glasses of his, mmm) but Kagami was kind of nerdy and flaily for the first three episodes. When he gets more serious and starts wearing clothes that fit on him better, he kind of suddenly starts getting really hot. ♥
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 05: I swear, I am such a retarded fan sometimes. Like, I can accept monsters that are obviously guys in really awful rubber suits and mentally adjust for that. I can take that as part of the intra-series consistency and just go with it. But then I'll watch the fight at the end of episode 04 (and at the beginning of episode 05, which is what reminded me) where Kabuto and Worm!Ryou are fighting in the rain and it bothers me that the rain isn't slowly falling, that it appears to be hanging in mid-air. While it's really cool the way they had both of them bumping into the beads of water hanging in the air, it drives me nuts because the speed they're going at should still see the rain slowly falling down.
I'm aware that this is a really silly thing to be bothered by.
Anyway, Misaki being stopped from following Tendou by BadTouch-san who says that they already have a plan in progress to capture Kabuto reminds me. I can't remember whether or not Tendou's name was in that book that contained Kagami's name as well. I kind of think it wasn't, I don't remember hearing the name "Kusakabe Souji", which is what they'd have it written down as? Which is what my question was about, actually, and I've discussed this with tammaiya a bit and we're kind of at odds about it.
It started as a question about whether or not Tendou-obaa-chan was Tendou's biological relative or not, since the conversation with Juka was kind of a little unclear. Juka said he was adopted before she was born and I could have sworn that she said they were cousins instead? But I could be misremembering that and it's a long ways off in the rewatch. Anyway, I always assumed they were, that he changed his name because he was adopted when he was three, that maybe it was his maternal grandmother. But he also said that Hiyori could go live with grandmother if she wanted, which implied to me that she knew about at least some of this. And if she knew about some of this, wouldn't it have made more sense that she was his paternal grandmother, since it was KusakabeSr that was involved with ZECT.
Another reason Tendou might have changed his name (since we don't actually know if obaa-chan's name is Tendou or not, I don't think?) is that book, because ZECT certainly seemed to know that Kagami was destined to become Gatack and KagamiSr knew that KusakabeSr had planned for his son to be Kabuto as well. So, he had to have known the name Kusakabe Souji and would have been looking for him, which wouldn't have allowed Tendou much chance to hide. ....though, I doubt Tendou would have known that, so why change his name even before the zecters showed up? (Assuming, of course, that he changed his name as a kid. I guess, for all we know, he could have still been Kusakabe Souji until recently.) I... really want to know how much Tendou knew! Did his father tell him very much or leave him a secret lab or something? Or did Tendou put everything together himself? He knew he was waiting for something, but it's not like his father-father really left him the belt, it was the Native!KusakabeSr that left him the belt.
Which brings up more questions. Why, uh, didn't they go grab little Souji that day they mimicked the Kusakabe family? Why not bring another Worm along to mimick him? Why keep the belt? Why not hand it back over to the Natives? Why would they have it on hand to give it to little Souji when the second meteorite hit?
I am left to assume that the Kusakabe personalities overwhelmed the Natives to a degree, sort of like Reina and Tsurugi. That's why they kept Hiyori and raised her, that's why they didn't go after Souji, why they still had the belt to give to him. Because if anyone was going to be able to overwhelm the Native personality.... Or, I suppose, it could have been part of the Native plan--they wanted the Masked Rider System up and running, right? Since they knew the Worm were coming and they created the system in the first place. So, have Worm!KusakabeSr carry it around with him, waiting for little Souji to find him, then hand it off. ....that's kind of assuming that little Souji would find them and that's a hell of a chance to take on a three year old. .__.
And I know there was the whole thing with Dark Kabuto and how they turned that human into a Native and had him mimic Tendou, but I thought that was later on? I assume it had to be (rather than, say, having him mimic Tendou as a kid) because of his crazypants obsession over Hiyori, which I doubt would have taken root in Tendou until later. I suppose it's always possible that Dark Tendou obsessed over whatever Tendou obsessed over, but... eh, it felt like the mimicking only happened a couple of years (if that?) before the series started. .... *scrunches up face* which means they knew who Tendou was? Or did it happen after the start of the series? *needs to rewatch*
....I know I shouldn't think about it so much, but I want this straight in my head!
Anyway, back to episode 5. So, Kagami's still depressed and what does Hiyori do about this? She goes to Tendou's house and tells him to do something about depressed!Kagami, because it's a pain for her. ....all right then.
This is the first time we properly meet KagamiSr and, honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about him anymore. Before the final few episodes, I would have wanted to punch him in the face, but... he did what he thought was necessary and was genuinely sorry about it. He obviously cared about his son a great deal and he certainly suffered for his arrogance and evil deeds. He was willing to die for it and it's not like everything was magically better by the end. Yet... I dunno. That's still a lot of crap to put on someone like Kagami's shoulders.
One does wonder about what KagamiSr could/couldn't have done about what happened with Ryou. It seems like he genuinely does hurt over it and that his hands were truly tied. I wonder if there was more to the story there that also got dropped along with the other plot holes? Probably not, but... it intrigues me.
While Hiyori is at the Tendou house to make pot-au-feu, Juka sees her notebook and asks her if it's a drawing of Shibuya. Juka then says that she was in Shibuya then, too, but Onii-chan saved her. "That time, Onii-chan said 'I won't ever let you be scared again.'" I'm... wondering how that works? I guess he could have been in Shibuya with Juka while Hiyori and the Worm!Kusakabes were trapped under the rubble for a few hours, he got Juka to safety and then went to find them? Eh.
Anyway, so, Kagami is trying to get Hiyori to go to the flower exhibit with him, but rushes off when he sees a newspaper article about a mysterious serial killer that's obviously a Worm. And later Tendou wanders into La Salle, having tea and says in this tone like the world is just so much trouble even when he goes to the lengths of being willing to grace them with his presence, "Kagami, that guy. And I came here to cheer him up too... And he's not here." Right around this scene is when I started shipping them kind of for serious. Before it was funny and just slashy fun, but at this point... oh, Tendou, you are so gay for Kagami and it's totally lolful and yet. Even if I couldn't articulate it the first time, watching with a sharper eye makes it clearer for me--there's really a lot of emphasis on the Kagami/Tendou relationship, even if it's ostensibly for other reasons.
It's. Well, I mean, Tendou obviously loves his sisters the most and would do or give up pretty much anything for them. And this is only episode 5, this is probably in the first month of him properly meeting Hiyori and being in her life. And yet. He's sitting in the bistro, with Hiyori at the table only a few feet away from him... and he's complaining about/thinking about Kagami. It isn't that I think the slash trumps the family dynamics in the show, that I think Kagami/Tendou > Tendou's crazypants love for his sisters, because I don't.
It's just that... for someone who, when it comes to his sisters, is missing as many screws as Tendou kind of obviously is, he spends a lot more time thinking about Kagami than I'd expect, especially with Hiyori RIGHT IN THE ROOM in these early episodes like that. His attention is frequently drawn to Kagami, seemingly even without Tendou really realizing it.
Though, by the end of the series, I would be willing to say that all three of those people are as beloved by Tendou as each other. In different ways, like he would give up a lot more for his sisters, but that doesn't mean Kagami is any less important in his life. And I was having a conversation with tammaiya about this, which went like:
ANYWAY. Back to episode five. Tendou's interesting in Hiyori and his "I'll be by your side." when offering to take her to the tulip exhibit makes a lot more sense, of course. And this episode also has one of the things that kind of drives me batty about later episodes--Kagami is using a camera with a thermal filter on it, which shows humans as being the normal red and a Worm will show up as blue. Which always made me wonder... are they that much colder than humans? You would have to be able to tell the difference by touching them, if they registered as that different, right? And why don't they use that later when trying to tell the difference between a human and a Worm? Do they just get better at mimicking humans? You'd think seven years practice would be enough for them to get details like that right. (Though, that might be one way that Tendou could tell a human from a Worm, too.) I'd say it was some other kind of camera, but it says right on the screen that the camera is in "thermal mode", which means it's definitely showing the levels of heat of the people walking around.
Kagami figures out that something is up with Headquarters, with the way they're not trying to stop the Worm this time, that Misaki-san stopped him from going after it because something fishy is going on, and he goes to talk to Tendou about it. Tendou mentions that it's strange for the newspapers to be reporting on it, which lets him know that ZECT is up to something, so it's better to ignore it, too. Kagami gets furious about this, to just let people die like that, and says he was wrong for asking Tendou for advice, that he's disappointed in him. And poor Tendou. His life is so hard. :< He knows it's a trap, he even deliberately told Kagami that it's a trap. :< And yet Kagami still is disappointed in him. :< His life. So hard. :<
So, what does Tendou do? Walks right into the trap, of course. Despite that Hiyori is waiting for him at the exhibit and he promised that he'd be by her side. Because Kagami went to fight a Worm by himself and because Kagami was disappointed in him.
Also, this episode has a Worm going from one mimic to the next without transforming into Worm form in between, which is another thing I'd wondered about. Though, I don't think we see a Worm mimic one human, then another one later, then go back to the previous one after that? Anyway, Kabuto's fight with the Worm also bugs me again because that car that Kabuto cut in half (and then fell over the ledge with in a total Jesus pose, which made me lol, considering the conversation I'd had with Siobhan about it) should be falling slowly. Instead it just hangs there in mid-air not moving. >:|
The episode ends with Hiyori alone outside the exhibit, Tendou surrounded by ZECT troopers, and Kagami watching in frustration and realization that Tendou was right. The first time I watched these episodes, I was kind of frowny faced because I'd been feeling the slash and I didn't really know why Tendou was all worked up over Hiyori, but the second time through makes these episodes really kind of awesome. ♥
I watched Kamen Rider Den-O 13 + 14 this morning as well, so spoilers for those, though, eh, I kind of think spoilers for Den-O are pointless since the series is all about the lolz at this point.
These episodes are Ryuutaros' introduction episodes and I've taken a few things away from this arc:
1) ....I will grudgingly admit that Satou Takeru is kind of hot when he breakdances.
2) I love that, even when the show is starting to develop a bit of a plot (with Ryuutaros saying "someone told him" to defeat Ryoutarou to become the conductor of the train and giving him a ticket for the Den-Liner and with the mysterious guy showing up in the past), it's still all about the lolz. Den-O totally does not take itself seriously and I love it for that. It's really like WHEEEE GIANT MONSTERS AND GIANT TRAINS AND LOTS OF EXPLODING THINGS AND MOTORBIKES AND SHOOTING THINGS WHEEEEE. I love it. ♥
3) I spent about ten minutes trying to figure out how to look up the seiyuu for the Imagin (god bless Wikipedia!) because the owl Imagin's voice was driving me mad, I knew it from somewhere. Turns out, Darcia from Wolf's Rain! I would never have guessed that.
4) Oozaki can still go DIAF.
5) This series isn't even TRYING to keep the timeline maintained. But I don't care because BABY SHIBA INU PUPPY LIVED! PUPPY PUPPY OMG PUPPY.
6) Ryuutaros using breakdancing even as Den-O = LOLZ.
I also watched Himitsu no Arashi-chan #09 [2008.06.05] the other morning, the Hanadan Final SP one. I'd seen the preview for it and it looked fabulous, between Jun's .___. expression at the stuff they were going to make him do and Nino's literal jump of joy and triumphant fist in the air.
And... I'm kind of torn on the episode. It wasn't quite in gear as much as the previous episodes, I thought, like something was kind of a little bit missing. I think what really felt the most off was that Jun seemed genuinely embarrassed and uncomfortable the entire time, it was seriously hitting my embarassment squick something hard. I kept having to pause and go do other things for awhile before going back to watch. Nino seemed kind of subdued, Aiba was kind of in the background, and I think Ohno might have literally gone the entire time without saying a single word.
On the other hand, it was an entire hour of fucking with Jun and deliberately embarassing him, how could I not at least partially love it? There was some great Nino/Jun fanservice in this episode, from whatever he said during that arm around Nino's shoulder to Nino being a little shit multiple times and pushing Jun back towards the Matsujun Maniacs. Inoue Mao-chan was being SUPER ADORABLE in her VTR OMG.
And, actually, I really love Ooshima-san from Morisanchuu, you can tell that she's kind of totally doing this act of hers on purpose, but that she's also seriously a genuinely huge fan of Jun's. I think she's the one that had the husband who wrote a column about being kind of jealous of Matsujun? And then was kind of won over by him, too, anyway? Because I remember that being the most AWESOME MARRIAGE EVER. I've browsed a few blog responses to this episode and I don't get the dislike of her... I mean, she's a comedian, you know? It's her job to be funny! And I found her HILARIOUS as the kind of uber-fan that she's totally being on purpose.
Also, holy crap, she was actually pretty good singing that song! At first I thought she was lip synching or something, but no! She can actually sing! And the Marilyn Monroe getup looked really nice on her! She totally shone in this episode. Though, the one chick that Jun acted the proposal scene out with? Whom he picked up and then she went and picked HIM up? A+++++, would LOL again. Especially because I think she had an easier time picking him up.
My other favorite moment was when Sho tried to get in on Jun's act of being pretty while serving food, saying he'll totally do this, too, and the guests are all, feh, that's not nearly as pretty as when Matsujun does it!, until Sho finally snaps at them. And I do love Nino going back and forth between looking like this is his favorite day at work EVER and being crabby that people are paying attention to Jun instead of him.
So, not my favorite, my embarassment squick was hit a little too hard, but still a fantastic episode to have watched. XDb
Well, it's much harder if you're a really big nerd and keep pausing the episode to scribble down retarded notes about the show. Feh. At least I'm combining two episodes this time. (And also I had a crappy weekend, so I lost a lot of time, but, eh, screw crappy weekends! I will not let them beat me!)
SPOILERS for the usual (and up into the mid-30s at least! ...oh, hell, probably the whole series, honestly), I suspect I'm giving up on these not being spoilery as hell because that's the fun part of the rewatch, knowing more about what's going through Tendou's very, uh, Special head. And giving way too much thought to the plotline with the Worm and all. oh god i'm such a nerd
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 04: So, last episode left off with Kagami chasing after Ryou and Tendou being attacked by another Worm, who seems to be able to almost sense that he's Kabuto? idk. I think about things too much. Anyway, the next scene has Kagami in La Salle and apparently someone ordered a boatload of mackerel and the manager is really Not Pleased about this and then Juka comes in and gives Kagami the biggest headache ever because, GOD, THAT TENDOU. NOT EVEN HERE AND HE'S STILL GIVING KAGAMI HEADACHES. >_<
Naturally, Juka makes Kagami carry all the mackerel to the Tendou household and then sits him down for tea while Tendou cooks and this is something I pinged on the first time I watched, but it's even more hilarious during the rewatch: I find it amusing that the first three episodes make this kinda big deal about Hiyori's cooking and how Kagami wants to try it and how circumstances (read: Tendou) keep him from it. And then they have Kagami eating Tendou's cooking first and go OMG SO GOOOOOOOOD. ....yeah, having trouble taking your potential het seriously when you build up a context for it and then hand it over to Kagami/Tendou, you guys. Especially when Kagami has forgotten ALL ABOUT WORK (leaving Hiyori there alone) while at Tendou's house.
Though, seriously, it's a good thing Tendou's a good cook or else Kagami would probably snap and strangle him someday. :<
Also, Juka talking to Kagami in such a way that's practically out of a shoujo manga about the younger sister sidling up to the love interest/potential boyfriend, is never, ever not SUPER HILARIOUS. Right down to the pinky swear promise she makes for him to be Onii-chan's friend. Totally shoujo manga, I swear.
Kagami opens up about his little brother a little bit and Tendou's expression as he suddenly looks even more interesting (in a Tendou sort of way) also still gets to me, because you kind of catch that Tendou's a dork for his little sister, but. Same for how Tendou actually goes and asks Hiyori about Kagami's little brother--I get why he's doing it, he's got his own thing about younger siblings, but it's interesting that he picks up so strongly on Kagami's issue with Ryou and actually goes and asks around. ....which is the start of how Tendou acts around Kagami. He's kind of hyper interested (interesting to put the reaction to Kagami's little brother after all the staring he's been doing with Kagami in the first three episodes) but forget actually going to talk to Kagami about it. I swear that's how Tendou acts when he cares about someone--you have to push and push and push the circumstances to actually get him to do anything directly with the person he cares about.
Like, he'll give Kagami this really meaningful look as Kagami celebrates that his little brother is back (and when Kagami grabs Hiyori by the shoulders to ask her to make the mackerel miso, the sharp looks from Tendou are surprisingly absent, which makes me wonder if he sense that Kagami/Hiyori just isn't really going to happen or if he's more okay with the idea or what) and he'll go talk to Misaki to tell her to investigate Kagami's little brother, but he won't actually say anything directly to Kagami. Even if it means that Kagami will misinterpret his reasons a little. Sure, I wonder if a lot of that is his own issues with younger siblings, but. In the context of their relationship up to this point, it's kind of interesting.
Tendou obviously does want to kill the Worm imitating Ryou because it's not actually Ryou, but he's also willing to step back and let Kagami handle it, despite that he thinks Kagami isn't really that capable right now. (I don't think he really expected Kagami to understand his motivations, it kind of read like Tendou was deliberately smacking him--in Tendou's own roundabout way--to see the truth of the situation and to get Kagami all fired up for when he faces this.) It also amuses me how much Kagami's punch apparently really did hurt. And even if Kagami tripped from Tendou's punch, he didn't whine or cry about it. *LOVES KAGAMI, LIKE, A LOT*
Also, I did wonder (a little bit) why it was necessary to kill Ryou, it's not like he was running around attacking people? He only changed back/attacked when ZECT was about to fire on him. If it's one of those plot holes that Kabuto has a lot of, but is kind of easy to fill in if you want to fanwank it away as KagamiSr realizing, well, a Worm impersonating his son? Getting close to Kagami and potentially getting close to KagamiSr eventually as well? A Worm getting close to Gatack and the head of ZECT? Well, what could go wrong with that? Even if he was just a Worm that was willing to co-exist with the rest of humanity, I can believe that KagamiSr. wouldn't want to take that chance.
Anyway, Tendou makes his dramatic entrance, staring at Kagami some more, as he says, "Obaa-chan said this: When people love others, they become weaker... But... it is nothing to be ashamed of. Because that is not true weakness. Right? Only those who know weakness... ...will become truly stronger."
Which a) is interesting because both of them do grow stronger through the "weakness" of caring others (not that that's not every Japanese series just about ever, mind) and b) because Tendou really makes a point of saying that to Kagami, almost comforting in a Tendou sort of way. Even if this Worm isn't really the Ryou he knew and has to be fought against, it's not bad that Kagami still continues to let it get to him, continues to care. Same for the way he doesn't fight back against the Worm that mimicked Ryou until Kagami snaps out of his daze, putting himself in potential harm's way to wake Kagami up. Which, you know, I can't recall him doing for a lot of people.
(And, again. Totally how Tendou does things when it comes to Kagami. Brings about a situation, pushes things around, until Kagami is the one to act/break the tension. It's not until Kagami says, "Kabuto! Please!" that Tendou stands up and fights back.)
I also love that OF COURSE it starts to rain dramatically as Tendou changes into Kabuto and starts the fight. Of course. XDDD
Anyway, the episode wraps up with Kagami screaming that he'll surpass Tendou someday, who stops walking and has this unreadable look on his face, then he throws Ryou's baseball to Kagami with this really intense look on his face and I... I kind of start to wonder again just how much Tendou knows. Does he know about Gatack? Is he helping that along? Or is this just because he's extremely reactive to Kagami? Obviously there's something there (however you want to interpret it) that's not just about the fight against the Worm, but... well, sometimes I wonder.
I mean, when your options are:
1) a fanwanked theory that Tendou knows about Gatack and is helping Kagami along or
2) Tendou is just IMMEDIATELY reactive to Kagami and kind of stares at him a lot and is really kind of touchy-feely with him...
you kind of start to think maybe you're not just being a yaoi fangirl with the two of them. XD
This is also the episode where Kagami starts to look really pretty. I mean, I think Satou Yuuki is adorable and really kind of hot (especially in those glasses of his, mmm) but Kagami was kind of nerdy and flaily for the first three episodes. When he gets more serious and starts wearing clothes that fit on him better, he kind of suddenly starts getting really hot. ♥
Kamen Rider Kabuto episode 05: I swear, I am such a retarded fan sometimes. Like, I can accept monsters that are obviously guys in really awful rubber suits and mentally adjust for that. I can take that as part of the intra-series consistency and just go with it. But then I'll watch the fight at the end of episode 04 (and at the beginning of episode 05, which is what reminded me) where Kabuto and Worm!Ryou are fighting in the rain and it bothers me that the rain isn't slowly falling, that it appears to be hanging in mid-air. While it's really cool the way they had both of them bumping into the beads of water hanging in the air, it drives me nuts because the speed they're going at should still see the rain slowly falling down.
I'm aware that this is a really silly thing to be bothered by.
Anyway, Misaki being stopped from following Tendou by BadTouch-san who says that they already have a plan in progress to capture Kabuto reminds me. I can't remember whether or not Tendou's name was in that book that contained Kagami's name as well. I kind of think it wasn't, I don't remember hearing the name "Kusakabe Souji", which is what they'd have it written down as? Which is what my question was about, actually, and I've discussed this with tammaiya a bit and we're kind of at odds about it.
It started as a question about whether or not Tendou-obaa-chan was Tendou's biological relative or not, since the conversation with Juka was kind of a little unclear. Juka said he was adopted before she was born and I could have sworn that she said they were cousins instead? But I could be misremembering that and it's a long ways off in the rewatch. Anyway, I always assumed they were, that he changed his name because he was adopted when he was three, that maybe it was his maternal grandmother. But he also said that Hiyori could go live with grandmother if she wanted, which implied to me that she knew about at least some of this. And if she knew about some of this, wouldn't it have made more sense that she was his paternal grandmother, since it was KusakabeSr that was involved with ZECT.
Another reason Tendou might have changed his name (since we don't actually know if obaa-chan's name is Tendou or not, I don't think?) is that book, because ZECT certainly seemed to know that Kagami was destined to become Gatack and KagamiSr knew that KusakabeSr had planned for his son to be Kabuto as well. So, he had to have known the name Kusakabe Souji and would have been looking for him, which wouldn't have allowed Tendou much chance to hide. ....though, I doubt Tendou would have known that, so why change his name even before the zecters showed up? (Assuming, of course, that he changed his name as a kid. I guess, for all we know, he could have still been Kusakabe Souji until recently.) I... really want to know how much Tendou knew! Did his father tell him very much or leave him a secret lab or something? Or did Tendou put everything together himself? He knew he was waiting for something, but it's not like his father-father really left him the belt, it was the Native!KusakabeSr that left him the belt.
Which brings up more questions. Why, uh, didn't they go grab little Souji that day they mimicked the Kusakabe family? Why not bring another Worm along to mimick him? Why keep the belt? Why not hand it back over to the Natives? Why would they have it on hand to give it to little Souji when the second meteorite hit?
I am left to assume that the Kusakabe personalities overwhelmed the Natives to a degree, sort of like Reina and Tsurugi. That's why they kept Hiyori and raised her, that's why they didn't go after Souji, why they still had the belt to give to him. Because if anyone was going to be able to overwhelm the Native personality.... Or, I suppose, it could have been part of the Native plan--they wanted the Masked Rider System up and running, right? Since they knew the Worm were coming and they created the system in the first place. So, have Worm!KusakabeSr carry it around with him, waiting for little Souji to find him, then hand it off. ....that's kind of assuming that little Souji would find them and that's a hell of a chance to take on a three year old. .__.
And I know there was the whole thing with Dark Kabuto and how they turned that human into a Native and had him mimic Tendou, but I thought that was later on? I assume it had to be (rather than, say, having him mimic Tendou as a kid) because of his crazypants obsession over Hiyori, which I doubt would have taken root in Tendou until later. I suppose it's always possible that Dark Tendou obsessed over whatever Tendou obsessed over, but... eh, it felt like the mimicking only happened a couple of years (if that?) before the series started. .... *scrunches up face* which means they knew who Tendou was? Or did it happen after the start of the series? *needs to rewatch*
....I know I shouldn't think about it so much, but I want this straight in my head!
Anyway, back to episode 5. So, Kagami's still depressed and what does Hiyori do about this? She goes to Tendou's house and tells him to do something about depressed!Kagami, because it's a pain for her. ....all right then.
This is the first time we properly meet KagamiSr and, honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about him anymore. Before the final few episodes, I would have wanted to punch him in the face, but... he did what he thought was necessary and was genuinely sorry about it. He obviously cared about his son a great deal and he certainly suffered for his arrogance and evil deeds. He was willing to die for it and it's not like everything was magically better by the end. Yet... I dunno. That's still a lot of crap to put on someone like Kagami's shoulders.
One does wonder about what KagamiSr could/couldn't have done about what happened with Ryou. It seems like he genuinely does hurt over it and that his hands were truly tied. I wonder if there was more to the story there that also got dropped along with the other plot holes? Probably not, but... it intrigues me.
While Hiyori is at the Tendou house to make pot-au-feu, Juka sees her notebook and asks her if it's a drawing of Shibuya. Juka then says that she was in Shibuya then, too, but Onii-chan saved her. "That time, Onii-chan said 'I won't ever let you be scared again.'" I'm... wondering how that works? I guess he could have been in Shibuya with Juka while Hiyori and the Worm!Kusakabes were trapped under the rubble for a few hours, he got Juka to safety and then went to find them? Eh.
Anyway, so, Kagami is trying to get Hiyori to go to the flower exhibit with him, but rushes off when he sees a newspaper article about a mysterious serial killer that's obviously a Worm. And later Tendou wanders into La Salle, having tea and says in this tone like the world is just so much trouble even when he goes to the lengths of being willing to grace them with his presence, "Kagami, that guy. And I came here to cheer him up too... And he's not here." Right around this scene is when I started shipping them kind of for serious. Before it was funny and just slashy fun, but at this point... oh, Tendou, you are so gay for Kagami and it's totally lolful and yet. Even if I couldn't articulate it the first time, watching with a sharper eye makes it clearer for me--there's really a lot of emphasis on the Kagami/Tendou relationship, even if it's ostensibly for other reasons.
It's. Well, I mean, Tendou obviously loves his sisters the most and would do or give up pretty much anything for them. And this is only episode 5, this is probably in the first month of him properly meeting Hiyori and being in her life. And yet. He's sitting in the bistro, with Hiyori at the table only a few feet away from him... and he's complaining about/thinking about Kagami. It isn't that I think the slash trumps the family dynamics in the show, that I think Kagami/Tendou > Tendou's crazypants love for his sisters, because I don't.
It's just that... for someone who, when it comes to his sisters, is missing as many screws as Tendou kind of obviously is, he spends a lot more time thinking about Kagami than I'd expect, especially with Hiyori RIGHT IN THE ROOM in these early episodes like that. His attention is frequently drawn to Kagami, seemingly even without Tendou really realizing it.
Though, by the end of the series, I would be willing to say that all three of those people are as beloved by Tendou as each other. In different ways, like he would give up a lot more for his sisters, but that doesn't mean Kagami is any less important in his life. And I was having a conversation with tammaiya about this, which went like:
- TAMMAIYA: He'd give up more for his sisters, but in a way it's Kagami he needs more. Does that make sense? He loves his sisters a lot and goes crazypants if they're in danger. But it's Kagami he needs to stop him going off the rails. And it's Kagami he needs by his side to help him reach his "path of heaven".
BECKY: Yeah, that's exactly how I see it. It's like his sisters are a source of... Tendou gives and gives and gives to them and he's happy with that. He wants to give everything he can. But with Kagami, he takes probably even more than he gives. He needs that from Kagami. Not that he doesn't give some back to Kagami, but it's really more about Kagami being there to stop Tendou from being crazypants and letting himself be killed, about Kagami being there to ground Tendou and support him.
TAMMAIYA: I don't think Tendou would have had the strength to get up and fight at the end without Kagami. I mean, look at how it all fell to pieces when they were fighting. Tendou shows up, alive and saving the day, when Kagami has faith in him. That's not exactly thematically subtle. Seriously. Kagami loses faith in Tendou. Tendou seemingly dies. World goes to shit.
Kagami's faith in Tendou returns stronger than ever. Tendou returns, alive and blazing, to save day. Tendou's reappearance is right after Kagami says his line about humanity being worth it as long as there are guys like Tendou, if I recall correctly.
ANYWAY. Back to episode five. Tendou's interesting in Hiyori and his "I'll be by your side." when offering to take her to the tulip exhibit makes a lot more sense, of course. And this episode also has one of the things that kind of drives me batty about later episodes--Kagami is using a camera with a thermal filter on it, which shows humans as being the normal red and a Worm will show up as blue. Which always made me wonder... are they that much colder than humans? You would have to be able to tell the difference by touching them, if they registered as that different, right? And why don't they use that later when trying to tell the difference between a human and a Worm? Do they just get better at mimicking humans? You'd think seven years practice would be enough for them to get details like that right. (Though, that might be one way that Tendou could tell a human from a Worm, too.) I'd say it was some other kind of camera, but it says right on the screen that the camera is in "thermal mode", which means it's definitely showing the levels of heat of the people walking around.
Kagami figures out that something is up with Headquarters, with the way they're not trying to stop the Worm this time, that Misaki-san stopped him from going after it because something fishy is going on, and he goes to talk to Tendou about it. Tendou mentions that it's strange for the newspapers to be reporting on it, which lets him know that ZECT is up to something, so it's better to ignore it, too. Kagami gets furious about this, to just let people die like that, and says he was wrong for asking Tendou for advice, that he's disappointed in him. And poor Tendou. His life is so hard. :< He knows it's a trap, he even deliberately told Kagami that it's a trap. :< And yet Kagami still is disappointed in him. :< His life. So hard. :<
So, what does Tendou do? Walks right into the trap, of course. Despite that Hiyori is waiting for him at the exhibit and he promised that he'd be by her side. Because Kagami went to fight a Worm by himself and because Kagami was disappointed in him.
Also, this episode has a Worm going from one mimic to the next without transforming into Worm form in between, which is another thing I'd wondered about. Though, I don't think we see a Worm mimic one human, then another one later, then go back to the previous one after that? Anyway, Kabuto's fight with the Worm also bugs me again because that car that Kabuto cut in half (and then fell over the ledge with in a total Jesus pose, which made me lol, considering the conversation I'd had with Siobhan about it) should be falling slowly. Instead it just hangs there in mid-air not moving. >:|
The episode ends with Hiyori alone outside the exhibit, Tendou surrounded by ZECT troopers, and Kagami watching in frustration and realization that Tendou was right. The first time I watched these episodes, I was kind of frowny faced because I'd been feeling the slash and I didn't really know why Tendou was all worked up over Hiyori, but the second time through makes these episodes really kind of awesome. ♥
I watched Kamen Rider Den-O 13 + 14 this morning as well, so spoilers for those, though, eh, I kind of think spoilers for Den-O are pointless since the series is all about the lolz at this point.
These episodes are Ryuutaros' introduction episodes and I've taken a few things away from this arc:
1) ....I will grudgingly admit that Satou Takeru is kind of hot when he breakdances.
2) I love that, even when the show is starting to develop a bit of a plot (with Ryuutaros saying "someone told him" to defeat Ryoutarou to become the conductor of the train and giving him a ticket for the Den-Liner and with the mysterious guy showing up in the past), it's still all about the lolz. Den-O totally does not take itself seriously and I love it for that. It's really like WHEEEE GIANT MONSTERS AND GIANT TRAINS AND LOTS OF EXPLODING THINGS AND MOTORBIKES AND SHOOTING THINGS WHEEEEE. I love it. ♥
3) I spent about ten minutes trying to figure out how to look up the seiyuu for the Imagin (god bless Wikipedia!) because the owl Imagin's voice was driving me mad, I knew it from somewhere. Turns out, Darcia from Wolf's Rain! I would never have guessed that.
4) Oozaki can still go DIAF.
5) This series isn't even TRYING to keep the timeline maintained. But I don't care because BABY SHIBA INU PUPPY LIVED! PUPPY PUPPY OMG PUPPY.
6) Ryuutaros using breakdancing even as Den-O = LOLZ.
I also watched Himitsu no Arashi-chan #09 [2008.06.05] the other morning, the Hanadan Final SP one. I'd seen the preview for it and it looked fabulous, between Jun's .___. expression at the stuff they were going to make him do and Nino's literal jump of joy and triumphant fist in the air.
And... I'm kind of torn on the episode. It wasn't quite in gear as much as the previous episodes, I thought, like something was kind of a little bit missing. I think what really felt the most off was that Jun seemed genuinely embarrassed and uncomfortable the entire time, it was seriously hitting my embarassment squick something hard. I kept having to pause and go do other things for awhile before going back to watch. Nino seemed kind of subdued, Aiba was kind of in the background, and I think Ohno might have literally gone the entire time without saying a single word.
On the other hand, it was an entire hour of fucking with Jun and deliberately embarassing him, how could I not at least partially love it? There was some great Nino/Jun fanservice in this episode, from whatever he said during that arm around Nino's shoulder to Nino being a little shit multiple times and pushing Jun back towards the Matsujun Maniacs. Inoue Mao-chan was being SUPER ADORABLE in her VTR OMG.
And, actually, I really love Ooshima-san from Morisanchuu, you can tell that she's kind of totally doing this act of hers on purpose, but that she's also seriously a genuinely huge fan of Jun's. I think she's the one that had the husband who wrote a column about being kind of jealous of Matsujun? And then was kind of won over by him, too, anyway? Because I remember that being the most AWESOME MARRIAGE EVER. I've browsed a few blog responses to this episode and I don't get the dislike of her... I mean, she's a comedian, you know? It's her job to be funny! And I found her HILARIOUS as the kind of uber-fan that she's totally being on purpose.
Also, holy crap, she was actually pretty good singing that song! At first I thought she was lip synching or something, but no! She can actually sing! And the Marilyn Monroe getup looked really nice on her! She totally shone in this episode. Though, the one chick that Jun acted the proposal scene out with? Whom he picked up and then she went and picked HIM up? A+++++, would LOL again. Especially because I think she had an easier time picking him up.
My other favorite moment was when Sho tried to get in on Jun's act of being pretty while serving food, saying he'll totally do this, too, and the guests are all, feh, that's not nearly as pretty as when Matsujun does it!, until Sho finally snaps at them. And I do love Nino going back and forth between looking like this is his favorite day at work EVER and being crabby that people are paying attention to Jun instead of him.
So, not my favorite, my embarassment squick was hit a little too hard, but still a fantastic episode to have watched. XDb