Kamen Rider Fourze (2011) Episode 11 Review

See this lovely visage of beauty here? This is Hiroki, a very loopy individual who is the leader of the Astronomy Club, and as you can tell by the picture, this episode’s Zodiart. The KRC runs into some big trouble this episode, mainly dealing with the sudden disappearance of the Rabbit Hutch’s locker entrance which causes a great deal of anger from Kengo at the others.

We start off with some silly shenanigans with Yuki confronting Hiroki about his stalking of  her and trying to force her into the Astronomy Club, followed by Hiroki activating his switch to reveal his Zodiart form. We follow this creepiness with some more fun via Gentaro and the Light Switch as we finally get to see what it works best with, that being the new Fooddroid, the Hulashake. After some more scolding from Kengo about freely using Switches and transforming into Fourze, the other KRC members decide to head off and get some Ramen, of which Miu has comically never tried. AsYuji tries to make her way to the Rabbit Hutch Locker, she is stopped by Ohsugi, who is wondering why she is going into an unused room. What follows is a VERY comical moment involving Yuki having to convince Ohsugi that the locker was being used by Sonoda (causing Ohsugi to imagine many dirty thoughts), but is now cursed and needing to be disposed of. I do have to say, Yuki is a strong part of what makes the show as far as it’s comical and fanservice side. I can understand some being annoyed with it, but the character is pretty essential to brightening up any fight scene and keeping it fun while being serious.

That is very much a sexy locker there.

As Shun manages to step in and shoo Ohsugi off, the other can finally break free of the Locker and then head off, with Gentaro getting dragged out to JAXA with Yuki and getting some much needed exposition regarding the mysterious Red-Eyed Man, who is actually Mituaki Gamou, a former astronaut who founded AHS. As the two then head off to get ramen, they are confronted by Hiroki, who transforms out of and back into his Zodiarts form while trying to get his hands on Yuki. Gentaro transforms to Fourze to protect Yuki, but even with Shun assisting with the Power Dizer, the Zodiarts manages to be swift and runs away while berating Yuki for hanging out with Gentaro. As the fight is occurring, Yuki had contacted Kengo and let him know that a Zodiarts had arrived, but as Kengo tried to leave the Rabbit Hutch, he finds that his is trapped.

Goodness this dude creeps me out.

Kengo then contacts Fourze to inform him of what had happened. The gang heads to the storage room, only to find that the Locker needed to gain entrance to the Rabbit Hutch is no longer there. After a series of Q&A moments from the gang, a chance encounter with Sonoda causes Yuki to remember Ohsugi from earlier, as when they ask him about it, he reveals that he had tossed it to the garbage collectors. As the gang relays to Kengo their difficulties finding the locker, we then get some more exposition regarding why it’s the only entrance to the Rabbit Hutch, as well as revealing how Kengo and Yuki became friends to begin with. At this point Yuki heads off to find Hiroki and beg for his assistance in finding the locker, which he agrees to in order to get Yuki to do anything for him. He does succeed in tracking down the Locker, but he also betrays Yuki and reveals that he intends to destroy it in order to make her suffer. At this point, the KRC intervenes in order to stop Hiroki from destroying the Locker, only for him to use the Pyxis Zodiarts’s ability to deflect objects to cause Fourze own missiles to destroy the locker to Kengo’s horror.

Other than creepy Hiroki, this was a pretty good episode in that it did bring in some much needed backstory to help flesh out the show’s mythology, but it also seemed to finally build the tension between Kengo and the club. One has to keep in mind that he has only been putting up with the club by forced circumstances similar to Gentaro, as they simply fulfill a need for him, and that is the defeating of Zodiarts. I have a feeling that all hell is going to break loose in Episode 12.

So, do I recommend this episode for viewing? Sure do, it builds tension effectively and you do wonder how they are going to get Kengo off of the Moon. HENSHIN!