Kamen Rider Fourze (2012) Episodes 25 & 26 Overview

The Zodiarts that you see here is the Coma Zodiarts, mainly known for using it’s hair to spin off imitations of previous Zodiarts, as well as use said locks for mid-range attacks, although it is vulnerable to an extent to short range attacks. This arc is mainly about Miu and Shun’s impending graduation and chance to go to the prom, which in Fourze’s universe is done after school graduation. Funny.

He will fight for you, until your heart stops beating, at the end of time.

Episode 25: Most of this episode deals with Shun’s hi-jinks with asking Miu out, which took care of the comedic part of the arc very nicely, although once again I must say I’m not too fond of the Shun character having to go to the extreme lengths that he did. I tend to favor more subtle measures in my comedy rather than ultra-over-the-top circuses, so this may be a matter of taste. I also thought Miu’s reasoning for not going out with Shun via wanting to go out with Gentaro instead was not really well done at all. For a show that tries to show character progression, they haven’t done diddly squat to hint at a love triangle between Miu, Shun, and Gentaro. Now one can take into effect that Kamen Rider is a show meant for kids in Japan who are probably not into the icky aspects of hooking up with a significant other, but love stories have worked in Kamen Rider before. I dunno, it just bugs the crap out of me as it really just does nothing but bog the arc down in unnecessary drama. So for the fun drama, let’s talk about Libra and Cancer!

The Zodiarts getting it on.

It is no secret that these two do not like each other, and that antipathy for one another came out full circle this arc with the rooftop battle. Toei really likes doing internal struggles with their villains, and lately they’ve been going all out with the inner circle baddies issues with each other. I almost get a Dark Knight feel from these two, as Libra represents the old guard of Zodiarts while Cancer is more akin to the Joker, well, minus the ultra-violent tendencies and beating sidekicks to death, and crippling other sidekicks…..Anyhow, I’m really interested to see how Gamou will manage to get all of these folks together to work as one unit once all 12 Horoscopes are revealed.

As always the fight choreography was nice to behold, and the PowerDizer actually didn’t pop out too much for cheap TV Toei CG. Staying on the PowerDizer, it’s nice that the staff did go out of their way to differentiate JK’s fighting style from Shun’s, it probably was a pain to animate, but again it did show a great deal of TLC that Fourze has become known for. Another cute aspect of the fight was Tomoko actually keeping Ryusei from transforming into Meteor. I’m really wondering when she ends up finding out who he really is.

 

Episode 26: So we go back to the drama, with Miu suddenly wanting Gentaro, Gentaro just trying to be the best bro that he can, Shun wanting to have the best prom ever, and us having to put up with the Kamen Rider Girls. Yes, what we really needed was a ballad song playing during the climax of the arc involving a pivotal fight scene between Cancer, Coma, and Fourze. Joy. Not-so-great signing aside, at least the episode tried to do what it could with telling a love drama story, well, without and of the love foreshadowing. This whole bit really just dragged everything down for me, to the point of where I wasn’t really able to concentrate on the side issue of Miu and Shun’s graduation shaking up the Kamen Rider Club. My general thought is that they should’ve gone with that as the main angle and based Miu’s anger on having to graduate and leave the club behind, but well, what can you do?

Ryusei once again has to be the mender of relationships as he forces Miu and Shun to come to their senses about their fellow club members and the fact that they need the duo to continue the fight. At this point Ryusei has crossed over into Akira Date territory for me, he’s a character and Kamen Rider that elevates the show into being better simply by his actions (which is also a major reason why I’m looking forward to the next arc with the debut of Meteor Storm).

Something else that popped out to me has to do with the Last One switches. If you haven’t already guessed, the voice of the Last One is the Horoscope who had given out the switch, and I have to say, Kijima’s Last One is nice in how it stands out, almost like the jokes that he likes to spout out even in the midst of battle.

So we get done with the final battle and Miu gets to dance with Gentaro, which again, I thought was pretty lame, but we did get a  pretty sweet series of shots with Shun as he simply took the whole situation like a man and simply walked away…..

Like a Boss.

I also thought the montages for Miu and Shun well pretty well put together, like they were really leaving the show, well, except they’re not. I do have to admit at least this arc served a purpose for making Shun and Miu able to make less appearances on the show as I do feel it was getting harder and harder to showcase all of the members of the KRC.

So, would I recommend viewing this arc? No, not really, unless you really want to see return appearances from the Altar, Dragon, and Chameleon Zodiarts, and maybe some more Ryusei awesomeness. Otherwise just stay put and get ready for Meteor Storm, or better yet, go watch Gokaiger Vs. Gavan. You’ll be glad you did. HENSHIN!